This report is a summary of information collected between November, 1948 and July, 1949 in the course of visits to the United Kingdom and the United States. The main subjects investigated were the complete gasification of coal, particularly in respect of its application to Victorian brown coal, the production of oil by synthesis and the production and refining of shale oil. Information was sought on a considerable number of other interests in the field of fuel technology as the opportunity offered. The authorities consulted were invariably experts in their respective fields, and great care was taken to record their information accurately. The report is a summary of recent developments and not an exhaustive study of the subjects mentioned. A considerable mass of detail has been excluded but is available on record for further reference.

Australia has significant gas resources capable of meeting the needs of domestic and international consumers for decades. Commercial viability of the resource depends on a number of factors such as geology, infrastructure, resource quality, and water depth. Further exploration is required to bring on Australia's lowest cost gas resources.

A major concern for regulators and the public with geologically storage of gas is the potential for the migration of gas (e.g. CO2) via a leaky fault or well into potable groundwater supplies. Given sufficient CO2, an immediate effect on groundwater would be a decrease in pH which could lead to accelerated weathering, an increase in alkalinity and the release of major and minor ions. Laboratory and core studies have demonstrated that on contact with CO2 heavy metals can be released under low pH and high CO2 conditions (particularly Pd, Ni and Cr). There is also a concern that trace organic contaminants could be mobilised due to the high solubility of many organics in supercritical CO2. These scenarios could potentially occur under a high CO2 leakage event but a small leak might be barely perceptible yet could provide an important early warning for a subsequent and more substantial impact. Different approaches are required for the detection and quantification of these low level leaks and are the subject of this paper. A 3 year groundwater survey was recently completed in the Surat Basin, which forms part of the Triassic-Cretaceous, Great Artesian Basin (GAB) aquifer sequence. In addition to a comprehensive water and isotopic analysis of samples from groundwater wells, gases were collected from groundwater samples and analysed for composition, '13CCO2, '13CCH4 and '2HCH4. Methane is prevalent in the major aquifers in the Surat Basin (e.g. Mooga, Gubbermunda and Hutton sandstones) and is invariably associated with a bacterial (methanogenic) carbonate reduction source, evident from its isotopic signature ('13CCH4 ~ -70', '2HCH4 ~ 220'). In addition to methane and low levels of CO2, trace levels of ethane are often detected.

Map of Australia showing the distribution of black coal, brown coal and Coal Seam Gas bearing basins overlain by prohibited areas. This map and enlargements of the Sydney, Bowen/Surat and Arckaringa basins were provided to DoFD as part advice regarding CSG exploration and coal extraction on commonwealth lands. These maps and their subsets are in 'DRAFT' form and are for internal use only.

Gas is a vital and growing part of the Australian and global energy mix. The gas industry is being transformed due to changes in markets and technology that are bringing new gas resources into play. This report builds on the Australian Energy Resource Assessment (AERA) was first published in March 2010 as a supporting document to the Energy White Paper process. The AERA (Geoscience Australia and ABARE, 2010) is a national prospectus for energy resources. It examined Australia's identified and potential energy resources ranging from fossil fuels and uranium to renewable sources. In the two years following the release of the AERA there have been significant changes in gas resources and within the gas market. This report provides an assessment of Australia's gas resources in 2012 and has been released to contribute to the final phase of the Energy White Paper process. The report documents the growth of gas resources and new projects that underpin an increasing role for gas both in Australia and internationally. For example coal seam gas (CSG) reserves have doubled since 2010 and three CSG/liquid natural gas (LNG) projects are now under construction, In addition, major new offshore conventional gas projects have been committed and commenced construction, including Ichthys in the Browse Basin and Prelude, the world's first floating LNG project. And Australia's third export LNG project, Pluto, has commenced operations.

From the beginning of petroleum exploration in the Perth Basin, the importance of the Early Triassic marine Kockatea Shale was recognised as the principal source for liquid petroleum in the onshore northern Perth Basin (Powell and McKirdy, 1976). Thomas and Barber (2004) constrained the effective source rock to a Early Triassic, middle Sapropelic Interval in the Hovea Member of the lower Kockatea Shale. In addition, Jurassic and Permian sourced-oils (Summons et al., 1995) demonstrate local effective non-Kockatea source rocks. However, evidence for multiple effective gas source rocks is limited. This study utilizes the molecular composition and carbon and hydrogen isotopic compositions of 34 natural gases from the Perth Basin, extending the previous study (Boreham et al., 2001) to the offshore and includes hydrogen isotopes and gases. It shows the existence of Jurassic to Permain gas systems in the Perth Basin.

This report is a partial update of the national assessment series of Australia's energy resources, which was first released in 2010. This interim release provides an overview of Australia's identified and potential fossil energy resources: oil, gas, coal, uranium and thorium. It focuses on resource quantities. A full updated version of AERA will be released in December 2016. It will add hydro, solar, wind, geothermal, bioenergy and ocean energy in conjunction with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, along with energy resource market information from the Office of Chief Economist. AERA provides the crucial information and data for comparing energy commodities and reviewing resources available in Australia and the world. In turn, this information can be used while considering resources and energy policies.

This point dataset contains offshore Oil and Gas Platforms located in Australian waters that include infrastructure facilities for the extraction, processing and/or storage of oil and natural gas.

This Oil and Gas Resources of Australia 2010 publication is the successor to Oil and Gas Resources of Australia 2009 and continues as the definitive reference on exploration, development and production of Australia's petroleum resources. The tables describe: - wells drilled - seismic surveys - petroleum discoveries - petroleum reserves - production and development, including forecasts of crude oil and condensate and a listing of offshore facilities

Recent national and state assessments have concluded that sedimentary formations that underlie or are within the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) may be suitable for the storage of greenhouse gases. These same formations contain methane and naturally generated carbon dioxide that has been trapped for millions of years. The Queensland government has released exploration permits for Greenhouse Gas Storage in the Bowen and Surat basins. An important consideration in assessing the potential economic, environmental, health and safety risks of such projects is the potential impact CO2 migrating out of storage reservoirs could have on overlying groundwater resources. The risk and impact of CO2 migrating from a greenhouse gas storage reservoir into groundwater cannot be objectively assessed without knowledge of the natural baseline characteristics of the groundwater within these systems. Due to the phase behaviour of CO2, geological storage of carbon dioxide in the supercritical state requires depths greater than 800m, but there are no hydrochemical studies of such deeper aquifers in the prospective storage areas. Geoscience Australia (GA) and the Geological Survey of Queensland (GSQ), Queensland Department of Mines and Energy, worked collaboratively under the National Geoscience Agreement (NGA) to characterise the regional hydrochemistry of the Denison Trough and Surat Basin and trialled different groundwater monitoring strategies. The output from this Project constitutes part of a regional baseline reference set for future site-specific and semi-regional monitoring and verification programmes conducted by geological storage proponents. The dataset provides a reference of hydrochemistry for future competing resource users.