A full review of the conference program is available at the new conference website, www.appea2007.com.au. The printed brochure will also be distributed shortly to all members and interested parties.

Confirmed plenary speakers to date include senior Australian politicians and bureaucrats, petroleum industry executives and consultants, leading academics, and environmental experts and lobbyists.

The 2007 APPEA Conference timing coincides with increased in interest in the energy sector from high-level politicians. Federal Treasurer Peter Costello, Federal Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources Ian Macfarlane, and South Australian Premier Mike Rann will address the conference, as will the Western Australian Government’s development approvals coordinator Brendon Hammond.

Leading oil and gas industry figures such as Greater Gorgon Area general manager and APPEA chairman Colin Beckett, Santos managing director John Ellice-Flint, and veteran consultant Peter Gaffney of Gaffney-Cline and Associates will also address delegates.

Other speakers include APPEA chief executive Belinda Robinson; WWF chief executive Greg Bourne; Australian Industry Greenhouse Network chief executive John Daley; University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering professor and Energy Tribune editor-in-chief Dr Michael Economides; and Rockefeller University Program for the Human Environment director Jesse Ausubel.

The conference’s technical and commercial program will covering such issues as new gas technologies; developments in geophysical and geochemical technologies; new approaches in reservoir modelling; investment challenges in exploration; improving regulatory terms; and sources of Australian liquefied natural gas.

The APPEA Conference program also includes the highly popular and widely attended annual acreage release; PESA farm-in seminar; and the small independents’ forum.

Early bird registrations close Friday, March 2.

Register online, download the registration form from www.appea2007.com.au or fill in the form when you receive a hard copy brochure via the coming mail-out.

To receive the regular conference newsletter, which includes program highlights and updates, including speaker profiles, email jhood@appea.com.au