The Press THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 1966. The Gippsland Shelf

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31017, 24 March 1966, Page 12

The Press THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 1966. The Gippsland Shelf

The flow of oil recorded last week from the Gippsland Shelf is significant not only for its being Australia’s first discovery of oil offshore but for its location. Australia has two commercial fields, Moonie and Alton in Queensland, which together are producing more than 10,000 barrels daily, ana an oil field on Barrow Island, Western Australia, which offers promise of commercial production in 1967. But these areas have the disadvantage of being far distant from potential markets, as, indeed, are the sites of some of the spectacular discoveries of gas in the Northern Territory, South Australia, in Western Australia, and Central Queensland. The find of oil on the Victorian continental shelf is close to one of the areas in which Australia’s population is overwhelmingly concentrated. Already the Gippsland Shelf has yielded natural gas, and estimates are that production from the shelf may be as much as 150 million cubic feet a day—more than the current requirements of gas for the whole State of Victoria. It is expected to be several months before the commercial significance of the Gippsland Shelf can be fully assessed; but it may well be that a turningpoint towards commercial success has been reached at last in Australia’s long and chequered oil search. The Victorian Government’s consultant, Dr. Hetherington, of Canada, believes that the Gippsland off-shore oil well “ will really set Australia up as an oil produc- “ ing country ”, It would be a well-deserved elevation if Australia were to reach high rank among nations producing the vital fuel of the present age. Since 1958 the Australian Government has spent 50 million Australian dollars on subsidies designed to promote the search for oil in the Commonwealth. A transTasman comparison hardly bears thinking about. At no cost to New Zealand a commercial gas field was discovered in 1962. Ever since, arguments initiated by the Government —have continued as to its best use. The consortium which invested in the Kapuni field has not even received interest on its capital. The greater attraction to oil companies of investing in such places as the Gippsland Shelf are obvious enough; and. indeed the Minister of Mines (Mr Shand) has acknowledged that New Zealand might “ pay very dearly ” for the attitude of the consortium which invested in Kapuni “ towards “ exploration and exploitation of the considerable “ potential underseas reserves of oil ”,