16 hydrographic survey
Suvey data vital to selecting
routes for subsea pipelines
Long subsea pipelines need a safe and
In the 1960s and 1970s regional offshore geological
stable route to shore. Pat Fournier, Senior
and geophysical exploration of the NWS led to the
discovery of natural gas and condensate deposits in the
Geophysicist with Australia’s Neptune Carnarvon, Browse and Bonaparte Basins, commencing
Marine Services, explains the need for
with the Rankin discovery in the early 1970s. With gas
good quality survey data from beneath
replacing fuel oil in Australian homes and factories,
increasing global energy demands, and LNG exports
the seabed. becoming a more viable source of income for the Australia
economy, oil and gas companies and their export
A
ustralia’s North West Shelf (NWS) is an partners are looking to further exploit the large natural
isolated offshore geographic province gas reserves in the Australasian region and specifically
extending 2400km along the northwest along the NWS.
margin of the continent and is Australia’s Australia currently has two LNG processing plants;
largest oil and gas region. Four major sedimentary basins the North West Shelf Venture (NWSV) in Karratha and
occur along the shelf, namely the Carnarvon, Canning, the Darwin LNG Plant, that deliver gas to local and
Browse and Bonaparte, from south to north respectively. international markets. These two facilities are located
The southern margin of the NWS is approximately approximately 1800km apart along one of the most
1200km north northwest of Perth, the capital city of natural gas rich and remote coastlines in the world. The
Western Australia and the administrative centre for most remoteness of the NWS is becoming less of a deterrent
exploration activity and associated oil field services. to investors as infrastructure develops in the region
Since the discovery of oil in Australia in 1953 at the (with the aid of increased government support), and
Rough Range-1 well, onshore Carnarvon Basin, interest the large size of new natural gas discoveries offsets the
in oil and gas exploration has increased. In 1964 oil was high financial commitment required by the oil and gas
discovered on Barrow Island and the NWS continued to companies to develop their fields.
grow and eventually became Australia’s premier oil and The new large natural gas discoveries along the NWS
gas province replacing Victoria’s Gippsland Basins. have occurred towards and beyond the 200m isobath
Fig. 1. Interest in offshore oil and gas continues to grow along Fig. 2. The Applied Acoustics’ AA301 Boomer under
Australia’s North West Shelf. tow, Bonaparte Basin, northern Australia.
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