The Great Australian Bight sits on the southern margin of Australia and remains one of the least explored passive margins in the world. The area has seen renewed interest after Fugro Multi Client Services and Geoscience Australia's non-exclusive acquisition of new seismic (8,626 km) in 1999 and our seismic reprocessing of 40,922 km.

Indications of source, reservoir, seal and proof of an active petroleum system in the area led the Australian Government in 1999 to offer for license 11 blocks over a 160,000 km2 area covering the Ceduna, Eyre and Duntroon basins. The Australian Government has released in the 2003 bidding round one block available for license.

The Great Australian Bight encompasses a number of basins along the southern margins of Western Australia and South Australia, and is roughly a 1000 km in length. Exploration activity peaked in the early 1970s but has been almost dormant since the early 1980s, with only 8 wells drilled in total and in hindsight none of them on a viable target. Early activity in the region was hampered by poor quality seismic data with recent seismic acquisition and reprocessing giving new insights into basin architecture and prospectivity. Evidence suggests the presence of movable hydrocarbons throughout the acreage gives the area huge potential. It is worth noting that Geoscience Australia have committed significant resources to the review of seismic, well and geochemical data along with preparing reports on the tectonic framework, geopotential interpretation, sequence stratigraphy and play types of the southern margin.

For further information on the regional and petroleum geology in the area please contact Heike Struckmeyer or Jan Ostby.