The new Western Australian Petroleum Information Management System (WAPIMS) provides a quantum leap in customer service and user friendliness for petroleum companies wanting to explore in Western Australia.

Director of the Petroleum Division, Bill Tinapple, said that for the first time the petroleum industry had a single system that integrates the delivery of exploration and production data with petroleum title management, safety monitoring, and well analysis.

"In addition, the new database is consolidated, secure and uses an internationally recognised standard petroleum data model," Mr Tinapple said.

"These sorts of developments are crucial in helping WA maintain a competitive edge over its international competitors."

Developed in wide consultation with the petroleum exploration and data management industry, the new online version of WAPIMS is a complete redesign of the Department's earlier petroleum information system.

"It has already attracted significant industry interest, and staff from the Department's Petroleum Division have been invited to make presentations about the system at forums as far afield as Malaysia and Bahrain," Mr Tinapple said.

To complement WAPIMS, a map-based web browser, available to the industry via the Department's website, allows data to be viewed by location.

For more information on the WAPIMS database, telephone the Geological Survey Division of the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources on 9222 3214.

The WAPIMS database can be accessed online by visiting the computer databases section of the Department's website at www.mpr.wa.gov.au