Australian Property News

Oil search to help grease up the SA property market

Posted on Tuesday, April 05 2011 at 4:34 PM

BP's plans to search for oil off the coast of South Australia could help boost the property market, according to TAFE property investment coordinator Peter Koulizos.

BP says it will start looking for petroleum as well as gas in the Great Australian Bight this summer, covering an area of 24,000 square kilometres south of Ceduna.

Koulizos says the news is "exciting" for the Eyre Peninsula.

"They're going to start searching 700 kilometres southwest of Port Lincoln," Koulizos says.

"It means towns that already have an airport like Port Lincoln or Ceduna could be in higher demand. It's also only an extra 100 kilometres to Adelaide, so they might fly in and fly out of Adelaide, we don’t know yet."

Adelaidenow.com.au reports BP will spend $1.43 billion to find a new offshore oil region the size of Wales, in water between 140 metres and 4600 metres deep.

However, Koulizos says he wouldn't buy in the towns of Port Lincoln or Ceduna just yet, because it's still much too early, and it could take companies a number of years to set themselves up, if they find resources. He says Adelaide is also well positioned for a mining boom.

"The beauty of South Australian resource deposits is they aren't far from the capital. In South Australia, Roxby is only 600 kilometres from Adelaide, and Prominent Hill is only 700 kilometres away. You’re talking a plane trip less than one hour, so there will be more fly in and fly out of Adelaide," he says.

BP spokesman Jamie Jardine says no decisions about possible fly in, fly out options for petroleum exploration have been made.

"Ceduna would be the obvious place for a heliport, but it’s not decided yet," he says.

"All you need is a landing pad, nothing is going to be built specially at this stage."