Abstract
Exploration activity decreased overall in Australia during 1971 relative to 1970. Drilling was considerably reduced, there being 67 wildcats in 1971 versus 112 in 1970. However, significant exploration advances were made in the onshore Cooper basin in South Australia and in the offshore northwest shelf of Western Australia. Five new gas fields and 1 oil field were discovered in the Cooper basin. Preliminary data and several successful tests indicate gas and gas condensate reserves of possibly giant magnitude in the offshore Rankin area of Western Australia. Elsewhere in Australia, exploration activity was at a low ebb, including the prolific offshore part of the Gippsland basin in Victoria. In the Gippsland basin, however, very significant development activities occurred with continued drilling of development wells on the giant Kingfish field. Gippsland basin offshore production was approaching 300,000 BOPD at the end of 1971.
New exploration frontiers were opened in the Southwest Pacific (Oceania) area east of Australia with the drilling of 2 deep stratigraphic tests (Kumifonua 1 and 2) in the Tonga Islands.
