Australia waits for drilling boost

The Australian oil exploration industry conducted a record volume of seismic surveying last year, foreshadowing an imminent boost in drilling, the Bureau of Resource Sciences said. "During 1996 more than 390,000 line-kilometres of seismic data were recorded, over a third more than (the previous) year," the bureau said in a statement. "Offshore, over 328,000 line-kilometres of high-quality 3D seismic data were collected, which is the highest level of 3D seismic data ever collected."
Offshore exploration drilling had declined to 47 wells in 1996 from 56 in 1995. "Exploration drilling this year (1996) has led to several oil and gas discoveries in the Timor Sea area and in the offshore Canarvon Basin," it said. Onshore exploration drilling had risen, however, to 96 wells from 92 previously.