Australia’s upstream operators must work together more to assure commercial development of the nation’s large—but lightly explored—unconventional plays, a senior Santos Ltd. (ASX: STO. AX , OTC: SSLTY) executive told the opening session of Hart Energy’s 2nd annual DUG Australia conference in Brisbane.

“We can’t afford to repeat each others’ mistakes,” Colin Cruickshank, general manager, unconventional resources and exploration, for the Adelaide-based firm, said in the conference’s opening keynote before a large crowd.

“We’re very confident that we will crack the code” to make Australia’s unconventional plays commercial, he emphasized, but added that “what we, as an industry, need to do to is work together to maximize our opportunity.

“We don’t collaborate as well as our North American counterparts,” Cruickshank said, urging DUG Australia attendees “to get the collaboration going” during the conference’s break periods. He said there are some formal collaborative efforts underway between industry and Australian universities and said there are initial efforts to form an onshore producers group for the Northern Territory.

Drilling costs in Australia are comparatively high compared to North America and the industry’s body of knowledge about each play is comparatively small. Operators must make maximum use of pre-drilling data, including seismic, drilling cores and other sources to share what they know without delving into proprietary data.

Australia’s exploratory blocks are comparatively large and every bit of data or information helps. He mentioned Santos’ McArthur Basin block in the Northern Territory covers 26,000 square kilometers and one wildcat well is in planning. “Where are you going to put it?” he asked. “This is extreme wildcat country.” Every bit of information will help.

Cruickshank discussed Santos’ three unconventional targets regions. He called the Cooper Basin “Santos’ backyard.” Conventional production from the basin dates from the 1960s. He said additional unconventional plays include tight shales and deep coal seams, located below 2,500 meters (8,000 feet), are prospective.

Next is the McArthur Basin with liquids-rich gas prospects. The company’s third unconventional target is the Mereenie/Amadeus Basin in the southern Northern Territory, which he said offers attractive gas-bearing shales.

General information on the development of North America’s successful unconventional plays has proved useful, and he said Santos tracks it carefully. But geology of the two continents differs so comparisons are not always good.

He pointed the McArthur Basin has some of the oldest hydrocarbon-bearing rock in the world, more than 1 billion years old, rarely found elsewhere—but productive in some locations. The Cooper Basin in South Australia and Queensland holds unusual Lacustrine shales that differ from the more typical marine-based shale formations found in North America.

Australia has significant potential in its unconventional plays. Cruickshank pointed to U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates of 430 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable shale gas reserves. “We have the rocks, Australia is very prospective,” he added.

But that useful collaboration will help the industry “crack the code” to make that vast potential commercially successful. That will require getting drilling and completion costs down. Support from drilling contractors and other service firms is improving, which is increasing competition and lowering costs, he said.

Equally important, the oil and gas industry in Australia must work on “a social license with the public,” to gain the confidence of those who doubt the wisdom of hydraulic fracturing. “Without it, we’ll struggle to have an unconventional business in Australia,” he added.