Exploration

Below the Seabed delves into the history of offshore oil and gas production. The first oil well was drilled in Albany Harbour of Western Australian in 1907. At present, there are 15 active petroleum projects on the Northern Carnarvon, Browse and Bonaparte Basins. The Western Australian petroleum industry is the largest contributor to Australia's production of petroleum products with a value of $21.3 billion for the nation’s economy.

Exploration is an important aspect of expanding access to subsea resources.
Seismic Subsea Exploration
Image copyright of Woodside

This component of the exhibition also looks at subsea operations undertaken by Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) including pipeline inspection, drill support and maintenance. Challenges to the subsea pipelines in Western Australia include strong weather around the North West Shelf (NWS), and new oil and gas reserves being discovered in increasingly deep waters off the continental shelf.

Topics covered in Below the Seabed include:

  • The Story of Oil & Gas
  • Finding Hydrocarbons
  • Spudding in Subsea Production Systems
  • The North West Shelf
  • The Woodside-operated North West Shelf Project
  • Stories from Offshore