NERA Commissions Further Analysis of Australia’s Exploration Competitiveness

According to Accenture's 2016 Oil & Gas Industry Competitiveness Assessment, prepared in association with NERA, Australia ranks as the most competitive country in the Exploration and Appraisal phase, with a score of 7.5, above the global median of 5.2.

This is a combination score for both conventional and unconventional exploration and appraisal wells. We do drill wells efficiently and effectively, but the large number of unconventional wells introduces a bias into the statistical score, so the total score does not accurately reflect the real exploration state of play in Australia and does not analyse the exact nature of exploration or the potential of unrealised exploration. Further, due to low commodity prices and the high cost environment in Australia, exploration activity has almost stopped in the last 18 months.

To address this, NERA has commissioned Accenture to undertake further analysis of Australia’s exploration and appraisal performance reflecting conventional and unconventional wells and will report on this in the next months.

The future supply of energy resources is dependent on an active exploration and appraisal environment.