Production recovery gathers pace

THE AUSTRALIAN oil and gas sector, led by a resurgence in crude oil output, is recovering strongly from the difficulties caused by the Asian economic crisis and the subsequent crash in oil prices. A combination of those factors and a severe, temporary restriction on output from the Gippsland Basin, offshore Victoria, resulted in crude oil production bottoming in the fourth quarter of 1998 at an average of 253,700 barrels a day (b/d).