Australia to expand geoscience spending

Offshore staff

ADELAIDE, Australia -- Australia's government will spend more than $55 million to expand its geoscience data acquisition over the next five years as part of the operations by the Upstream Oil and Gas Industry Strategy Leadership Group.

The spending will be for additional seismic acquisition, data enhancement, and access, according to John Hartwell, head of resources at the Department of Industry, Tourism, and Resources. The focus areas would be new frontier offshore prospects which will be selected with help from the industry.

The department is addressing pre-competitive geoscience; increased frontier exploration and incentives; improved approvals processes and regulation; research and technology to address new technical challenges; education and training related to the skills shortage; and gas development, Hartwell said.