Speaking at an Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics conference, the Woodside boss said that with just 0.3 per cent of current global oil reserves, Australia could keep producing at the current annual levels for only another 10 years.

He added the deteriorating production profile would have serious implications for the Australian economy as it was forced to rely more on oil imports. It has been predicted that oil imports will increase from 10% of national requirements to 60% by the end of the decade, meaning an annual crude import bill of $7 billion.

Expenditure on mineral and energy exploration rose 23% to $1.73 billion, according to the latest statistics from ABARE. The figure was driven by a 44% increase in petroleum expenditure to $1.04 billion, its highest level in real terms since the early 1980s. About 80% was offshore exploration.

ABARE has forecast energy production is expect to rise over the next five years with natural gas up by 28%, LPG 32% while crude oil is projected to decline by about 9%. This is mainly due to declining productivity from existing mature oil fields.