PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (Appea) on Thursday told a Senate hearing that the development of an oil province in the Great Australian Bight would deliver benefits to both South Australia and Australia as a whole.

A Senate committee was tasked in February to report on the potential environmental, social and economic impacts of planned oil exploration and future oil and gas production in South Australia’s Great Australian Bight.

Addressing the committee, Appea South Australian and Northern Territory director Matthew Doman said that the economic case for the safe and sustainable development of a new oil province was clear.

He said finding a major new oil source would help address Australia’s widening trade deficit in a vital commodity.

“About 80% of the oil we use in Australia is imported, costing us around A$34-billion a year,” noted Doman, adding that, while local production had been falling steadily, Australia had less than ten years of proven domestic crude oil reserves left.

“The Great Australian Bight could be the new oil province that boosts our energy security for decades to come,” he said.

He added that the oil and gas industry was one of Australia’s highest value-add industries, generating highly skilled, high-wage jobs.

“Besides the thousands of people directly employed in upstream exploration and production, the industry employs many more people, directly and indirectly, in downstream processing, engineering and other services.”

The committee inquiry came after petroleum major BP unveiled plans to search for oil in the Great Australian Bight, with plans to drill wells between 1 000 m and 2 500 m deep off the coast of South Australia.

The company was hoping to start drilling in the summer of 2016/17.

“With proper regulatory oversight, there is no reason a safe, sustainable offshore petroleum industry should not be possible for South Australia,” said Doman, further noting that jobs were likely to be created and residents of the state were likely to benefit from the investment.

“The industry’s record of safe, sustainable operations offshore in neighbouring Victoria show that similar development could occur in the Bight with minimal risk to the environment,” he concluded.