Australian Onshore Petroleum Exploration History and Potential

The 1960s to 2013 period covers Australia's petroleum exploration history, from early onshore discoveries to a modern resurgence in unconventional resources. This dataset documents the shift from offshore Mesozoic basins, which contain most conventional oil and gas, back to onshore Paleozoic and Proterozoic basins for shale and tight gas potential. Geoscience Australia and partners conducted new assessments during a period where onshore exploration license area nearly doubled from 2010 to 2012.

Use Cases

• Analyzing exploration trends based on documented historical discoveries like Mereenie and Blina.
• Assessing the potential of specific onshore basins (e.g., Amadeus, Canning, Georgina) for unconventional resources.
• Studying the geological characteristics of Paleozoic marine sequences and source rock intervals.
• Evaluating the impact of increased exploration licensing from 2010 to 2012 on industry activity.

Strengths

• Based on a peer-reviewed publication (APPEA Journal 2013) with a specific DOI, providing academic credibility.
• Describes concrete historical facts, including discovery dates (1960s, early 1980s) and a quantified trend (onshore license area nearly doubled 2010-2012).
• Cross-platform presence on data.gov.au signals official recognition and importance.

Limitations

• Core data structure (columns, row count, file size) is completely unknown across all sources.
• Metadata is sparse; license, author details, and the actual data file format (PDF/HTML) are unspecified.
• The 'last updated' date (2026) is inconsistent with the 2013 publication date, suggesting metadata may not reflect content freshness.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, in collaboration with state and Northern Territory surveys.

Collection Method

New assessments and studies, synthesized into a conference presentation and journal article.

Time Range

1960s to 2013

Freshness

2026-04-30 13:54:38.431996

Geography

Australia, specifically onshore basins including Amadeus, Canning, and Georgina.