Australia, Indonesia sign geoscientific accord

Australia, Indonesia sign geoscientific accord

SYDNEY (Kyodo): Australia has signed a geoscientific research
agreement with Indonesia, which will boost petroleum exploration
in Indonesia, Minister of Resources David Beddall said yesterday.

The program will improve knowledge of the regional geology and
petroleum resources potential of selected areas of Australia and
Indonesia, including the Zone of Cooperation in the Timor Sea.

"This type of collaboration shows the breadth of cooperative
activity between both countries, which is supported by a very
strong and stable government-to-government relationship," he
said.

"The survey program will involve gathering, evaluating and
analyzing new regional, geological, geophysical and geochemical
data in mutually defined areas," he said.

Over the next five years, cooperative, scientific and
technical surveys will be conducted by the Australian
Geographical Survey Organization (AGSO) and Indonesia's state-
owned petroleum company Pertamina.

The program will also provide training for Pertamina staff in
applying modern geoscientific technology and petroleum basin
analyses.

In a recent overseas contract, AGSO collected new seismic data
from sedimentary basins along 2,500 kilometers in the
Philippines.

The three-year project resulted in the discovery of eight new
oil and gas leads and helped rekindle petroleum exploration
industry interests in the region.