Australian Onshore Petroleum Exploration History and Potential, 1960s-2013

Australia's petroleum exploration history, focusing on the shift from onshore Paleozoic basins to offshore Mesozoic basins and back to onshore for unconventional resources. The dataset includes a conference abstract and presentation from the APPEA Conference & Exhibition 2013, authored by researchers from Geoscience Australia and partner surveys. It discusses discoveries from the 1960s to the early 1980s and exploration license trends from 2010 to 2012.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical shifts in petroleum exploration focus based on the described timeline from onshore to offshore and back.
• Studying the potential of specific Australian geological basins for shale and tight gas based on the mentioned basin assessments.
• Researching the involvement of international companies in Australian exploration based on the described participation trend.
• Mapping the discovery history of key oil fields like Mereenie and Blina based on the provided dates and locations.

Strengths

• Includes specific historical dates and discoveries (e.g., Mereenie field in the 1960s, Blina in early 1980s).
• Describes a concrete trend: onshore exploration license area nearly doubled from 2010 to 2012.
• Provides a direct citation to a peer-reviewed journal article (The APPEA Journal 53(2)).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic/temporal bias inherent to data_gov_au, focusing on a specific conference timeframe.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia and partners in state and NT surveys, via the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Conference abstract and presentation, likely containing assessments and studies.

Time Range

Historical coverage from 1960s to 2013, with specific focus on trends up to 2012.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-28 13:55:13.398449; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Australia, specifically onshore basins like Amadeus Basin and Canning Basin.