Partners in the offshore Perth Basin discovery, Cliff Head, have upgraded reserves estimates to 110 million barrels of oil, from original estimates of 80-100 million barrels. One partner puts the figure as high as 140 million barrels.
It was a real mixed week for Apache Energy. Showing its faith in this new oil province, it farmed into two offshore exploration permits north of Cliff Head with Roc, Voyager and Bounty.
However it was not all good news for Apache after farming late into the Morangie-1 well, which immediately turned out to be a duster.
Staying in the Perth Basin, junior explorer Empire Oil & Gas found another farmin partner for its Leschenault well (EP416), which is scheduled to be drilled early next year.
Santos is to pay dearly for its Churchie clawback after reaching an agreement with Mosaic Oil to reimburse the cost of the Churchie and Norkam wells, which were sole-risked by Mosaic.
Coalbed methane hopeful Molopo Australia said its Mungi-4 well is recording strong initial gas flows and it has started drilling an appraisal well in ATP602P.
Arrow also reported good flows from the first well of its Kogan North CBM project.
In the markets, it's been a busy week for companies reporting quarterly figures to the ASX. Woodside said record North West Shelf production saw revenue for the three months to September climb to around $700 million.
Despite the good result, Woodside earlier in the week said it had backed off a major overseas acquisition. Many in the market believe the intended target was Denver-based independent oil and gas player Westport Resources.
Oil and gas major Santos said higher oil prices and record sales volumes also led it to record the second highest quarterly revenue figures in its history.
The move to full ownership of the Bodalla oil fields in the southwest Queensland saw Beach Petroleum also produce record quarterly revenue figures.
Engineering firm Worley Group spelt out details of its much-heralded $300 million public float, which is all set for a December listing.
The absence of key Schlumberger personnel at this year's West Australian Basins Symposium sparked rumours the oil giant was to embark on big layoff of staff.
Unfortunately, the rumours turned out to be true, with Schlumberger announcing it was to close its land seismic operations, WesternGeco, in mainland US and Canada, causing a loss of 1200 jobs. What happens in Australia still remains to be determined.
It's also been a big week for politicians and the energy business. One MP in West Australia is arguing that if it's good enough for one inner city Perth suburb to have a development body, it should be good enough for another piece of valuable real estate - the Burrup Peninsula.
WA politicos gave the state's business leaders a glimpse into a post-energy reform WA after the first public presentation of a year-long review into the state's electricity sector. While it's unlikely that Western Power will be privatised, the politicos are arguing to have it broken up.
Struggling with energy reform, Victoria politicians have decided to put off a decision on equalising electricity prices between the city and the bush until after the next state election, to be held later in the year.
Federal Industry Minister Ian Mcfarlane said gas companies working with the Chinese will have access to multi-million dollar technology fund.
Overseas, despite news reports that the Al Qaeda terrorist network was re-grouping and Hugo Chavez was again in trouble in Venezuela, it was not enough to prevent a slide in oil prices.
Noises from the White House saying it was not so much interested in "regime change" but rather eliminating Saddam's weapons of mass destruction was enough for oil traders to wipe away the war premium.
ConocoPhillips and engineering group Bechtel said they were renewing their global LNG alliance.
Amity Oil said it was listing on German stock exchanges. It is not such a bad idea given Germany has a significant Turkish population which may want to invest its hard earned euros into a Turkish-focused exploration company
