Oil production from the Bass Straits fields, currently 110,000 to 120,000 barrels a day, is predicted to drop to about 50,000 barrels a day within five to 10 years from a day, said ExxonMobil, which owns the fields in partnership with BHP Billiton Ltd.

"The glory days of 550,000 barrels per day in the 1980s are not likely to be repeated - the future of Bass Strait lies in gas.

Oil exploration in Bass Strait is increasingly dominated by juniors and medium-sized corporations chasing small-to-medium sized targets. The big new projects in Bass Strait are Casino and Bass Gas, natural gas operations.

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