Home > Energy > Energy from oil & gas

Explore CSIRO

About CSIRO

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation is Australia's national science agency and one of the largest and most diverse research agencies in the world.

CSIRO's core areas of impact

Contact Enquiries: Phone - 1300 363 400 | Email - Enquiries@csiro.au | Contact Us

Energy from oil and gas

CSIRO is developing new technologies for oil and gas exploration and production to support a clean and secure energy future.

The Image The Links Alt Text TeaserText
/science/Enhanced-Methane-Production.html A picture of someone holding a dish. CSIRO is using bacteria to enhance the recovery of gas from coal seam reservoirs.
/science/GasHydrates.html A diagram of hydrate transport in gas-dominant flows. Novel technologies to reduce pipeline blockage are helping industry tackle a multi-million dollar problem.
/science/Laser-drills-the-way-to-oil.html An electron microscope image of a hole drilled into quartz. For the first time, lasers have been used to detect the presence of oil in grains of quartz.
/partnerships/CSIRO-VicDPI-partnership.html A diagram of Gippsland Basin oil and gas reservoirs and potential carbon dioxide storage sites. A partnership between CSIRO and VicDPI is exploring Victoria’s basins for new oil and gas reserves.

CSIRO's research is focused on the following:

An image of large white oil storage areas.

Petroleum systems
Learn more>

An image of a porous sand pack, showing grain surfaces, pore water and gas bubbles.

Enhanced oil recovery
Learn more>

Petroleum systems - Improving exploration success and reducing production costs associated with Australia's petroleum resources. Learn more>
Enhanced oil recovery - Enhanced oil recovery technologies are maximising oil production efficiency from existing fields in order to recover every last
drop. Learn more>

Gas platform

Flow assurance
Learn more>

An image of two people wearing safety gear on a site.

Unconventional gas
Learn more>

Flow assurance - New flow assurance technologies are ensuring uninterrupted flow of oil and gas in subsea pipelines, and access to previously stranded
gas. Learn more>
Unconventional gas - New technologies are providing access to gas resources that were previously uneconomical. Learn more>

There are few resources with the same impact on the world economy as oil and gas. Petroleum products have widespread and important uses – from transport and power generation to consumer goods. As such, Australia’s economic wealth and growth relies heavily on our petroleum endowment.

In terms of costs and benefits, petroleum is superior to other energy sources and is likely to remain a significant primary source of energy well into the future. It is therefore imperative to maximise the precious crude oil resources we have and recover the massive supplies of remote and unconventional gas located off North West Australia and along our Eastern seaboard.

New technologies are making it possible to meet the challenges faced in reaching and recovering oil and gas further offshore and from reservoirs that were previously inaccessible because they were uneconomical or too difficult to produce.

Second Level:
Energy from oil and gas
Index of Energy from oil and gas related information:
  • A man using scientific equipment on open-cut soil.

    CSIRO scientists have developed a revolutionary technique for the rapid on-site detection and quantification of petroleum hydrocarbons (commonly derived from crude oil) in soil, silt, sediment, or rock.

  • Intelligent Grid report: A value proposition for wide scale distributed energy solutions for Australia

    Wide-scale adoption of low-emission distributed energy could reduce the cost of transitioning to a low-carbon future by as much a $130 billion by 2050, according to a new report released today by CSIRO.

  • A picture of shale from the front page of the SHARC Consortium PDF.

    The Shale Research Centre conducts experimental and theoretical research on shale properties and problems.

  • Hydraulic fracturing experiment.

    The CSIRO hydraulic fracturing group are pioneering new applications for caving-type mining operations, gas drainage from coal seams, geothermal reservoir development and carbon storage operations.

  • Diagram showing multiple uses of nanosensors in the ocean

    CSIRO’s sensors team combines cross-disciplinary capabilities with extensive experience in emerging sensing technologies and nanotechnology to gain a detailed understanding of sensing devices and their possible application within the oil and gas sector. (2 pages)

  • The Petroleum and Geothermal Research brochure.

    This 1-page brochure outlines the CSIRO science and technology capabilities working in the area of petroleum and geothermal research.

Contact

Ms Jackie Walsh
Communications Manager
Earth Science and Resource Engineering
Phone: 61 8 6436 8707 
Fax: 61 8 6436 8555