Program 2 - Innovative Drilling
Government Co-funded Exploration Drilling
The co-funded government-industry drilling program will support innovative drilling by companies in greenfield areas.
It is designed to stimulate geoscience-based, targeted exploration and contribute to the economic development of greenfield areas in Western Australia, where additional drilling and promotional activities will potentially lead to new discoveries.
In 2009-10, the co-funded drilling program will preferentially fund high quality, technical and economically based projects that promote new exploration concepts and technologies. Proposals from applicants will be assessed by a panel on the basis of geoscientific and exploration targeting merit.
The State Government will dedicate $20 million of the Exploration Incentive Scheme to the co-funded drilling program.
Stratigraphic Drilling
Stratigraphic drilling will be undertaken by the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA).
Stratigraphic drilling validates seismic interpretation and provides excellent precompetitive geoscience information for use by both petroleum and mineral explorers.
This project will complement other mineral and petroleum drilling programs, and will fund coring of holes in the Canning, Eucla and southern Perth Basins. Drilling in the Eucla will be aimed at identifying the nature of the crystalline basement to the basin.
It will help to provide data to aid interpretation of formations where there is little current information, as well as help to identify potential for hydrocarbons and geothermal energy. In addition, drilling in the southern Perth Basin will test sedimentary units that could be used for carbon geosequestration.
