“The Cooper Basin is a desert like no other; it’s not the hottest or the driest. What it is, however, is truly enormous—on a scale that’s nearly unimaginable. Flying over the vast Australian outback en route to the rig and looking down at the seemingly limitless dunes, I find my mind singling out a small landmark on the ground, and asking myself, “If my truck broke down there, how long would it take someone to find me?” I don’t even see another road after 35 minutes of flight time.”

Thanks for the interesting read Newt. Looks like Chevron's got a huge challenge on their hand. That’s what you get when you come late to the party :)

Falcon’s got in early, cherry-picking the Beetaloo. An excellent prospect with roads, railway and pipeline nearby. See the map I superimposed on Google Earth.