b'Canberra observed seasonally adjusted, fell by $669M to $2453M from the last quarter Onshore, seasonally adjusted expenditure fell by $234M to $1403M, and offshore, seasonally adjusted also fell by $435M to $1050M The only increase was in production lease areas where the increase was a measly rise of just $31M to $961MGone are the days when billions of dollars were invested annually It will have to improve soonMore resource companies now in the top 150 of ASXIt is worth noting that although there has been some rationalisation within the larger companies, eg, Oil Search merging with Santos, and Woodside taking over BHPs petroleum interests, there are now many more resource companies in the top 150 of the ASX than ever beforeBack in 2000 there were 16 companies Now there are 26 and many of the newcomers are hunting for lithium and Figure 3.Quarterly petroleum and mineral exploration investment 2005-2022. Source: https://www.abs. iron ore A very healthy situation for gov.au/statistics/industry/mining/mineral-and-petroleum-exploration-australia/latest-release. geophysicistsOCTOBER 2022 PREVIEW 26'