Australian states and Northern Territory acreage update

2014 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 421
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Haworth ◽  
Richard Bruce

It is encouraging to note that a number of international oil companies (IOCs) have taken an interest in Australian onshore exploration, including the following: Bowen-Surat Basin—BG, ConocoPhillips, CNOOC, PetroChina, Sinopec, KOGAS, Mitsui, Petronas, Shell, and Total.Canning Basin—Mitsubishi, ConocoPhillips, Hess, PetroChina, and Apache.Cooper-Eromanga Basin—BG, and Chevron.Galilee Basin—CNOOC.Georgina Basin—Statoil, and Total. There is now greater interest in Australian onshore exploration, including in a number of sedimentary basins that have previously largely been overlooked. New views on geology and the development of a commercial shale and tight gas sector in the US have prompted a reassessment of onshore petroleum potential, especially in SA, the NT and WA. Access to onshore acreage in Australia for petroleum exploration is, in most jurisdictions, by means of a formal release process with a work program bidding system. Acreage that is being made available for exploration will generally be accompanied by information regarding its geological setting and petroleum prospectivity. Previous exploration activity may be summarised (including information in relation to the amount of pre-existing data available to applicants for acreage), and relevant maps and figures may be included. The following is a compilation of material supplied by the states and NT in relation to onshore acreage being made available for petroleum exploration.

2013 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 115
Author(s):  
Peter Green

The petroleum industry in Australia is going through a major development phase with export LNG projects under construction on both the east and west coasts. Initial exploration for shale and tight gas has opened up new plays as well as increasing interest in many sedimentary basins that have been overlooked. Access to land onshore in Australia for petroleum exploration is, in some States, through a formal release process by the relevant jurisdiction. This is a compilation of material supplied by the States and Northern Territory in relation to land being made available onshore for petroleum exploration. Not all jurisdictions have new acreage available for exploration. In these cases, new initiatives being undertaken that directly relate to accessing land for exploration or the present state of exploration activity will be highlighted. Land that is being made available for exploration will generally be accompanied by information regarding its geological setting and petroleum potential. Previous exploration activity may be in summaries, including information in relation to the amount of pre-existing data available to future explorers. Exploration opportunities may include conventional and unconventional targets. The review of the areas may also include maps and sections related to the land being made available.


2015 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 113
Author(s):  
Louise Goldie Divko

Australian state and territory acreage opportunities and recent activities are summarised in this paper. Exploration opportunities continue to exist for petroleum explorers in onshore basins, including a number of sedimentary basins that have previously largely been overlooked, with an increased focus (and commercial success) on basin centred gas, tight gas and shale gas plays. Access to onshore acreage in Australia for petroleum exploration is, in most jurisdictions, by means of a formal release process with a work program bidding system. Over-the-counter applications are available in some states based on perceived basin prospectivity. Australian state and territory governments continue initiatives to encourage exploration to realise their natural resource endowments. This includes pre-competitive basin studies, cost-effective and speedy provision of digital exploration data, transparent regulatory regimes, provision of effective land access regimes, internationally competitive royalty regimes, and promotion of acreage releases nationally and internationally.


1975 ◽  
Vol 75 ◽  
pp. 13-16
Author(s):  
G Henderson

The rapidly increasing interest that has been shown in the petroleum potential of the Arctic during the last decade has caused attention to be focussed on the sedimentary basins of Greenland and its offshore areas. During the period up to 1966 sporadic interest was shown in the petroleum potential of onshore West Greenland. In 1966 parties from two oil companies visited Nûgssuaq and Disko. None of this work was followed up by geophysical surveys or drilling.


1994 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 674 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Lanigan ◽  
Shane Hibbird ◽  
Sandy Menpes ◽  
John Torkington

Exploration over Roper Group outcrop in the McArthur Basin prompted Pacific Oil & Gas to investigate the petroleum potential of the Beetaloo Sub-basin, a 15 000 km2 Proterozoic depression concealed beneath Phanerozoic cover. Since 1989 drilling and seismic has identified a broadly flat-lying sequence with uplifted, eroded margins. A 3 500 m composite Proterozoic section consisting of three sandstone-to-mudstone sequences has been drilled. The lower two sequences comprise conformable units of the Mesoproterozoic upper Roper Group and unconformably overlying them is a previously unknown sequence comprising the informally labelled 'Jamison Sandstone' and 'Hayfield Mudstone', probably of Neoproterozoic age.Organic-rich intervals in the Roper Group mudstones range one to three per cent TOC in the Kyalla Member, and two to seven per cent TOC in the 'Middle' Velkerri Formation. Across most of the sub-basin the oil window lies within the Kyalla Member around 900–1350 m, while the 'Middle' Velkerri Formation is around 2 500 m and well into overmaturity, but may still have potential for gas. Potential reservoirs in the Bessie Creek, Moroak and 'Jamison' Sandstones, and in sandy units within the mudstones, are compromised by diagenesis, but porosities of up to 20 per cent and permeabilities of tens and rarely hundreds of millidarcies have been measured. Encouraging shows were observed in many of these intervals, and small quantities of oil and gas have been recovered in drill stem tests. With only a few targets drilled to date, this frontier area requires more exploration before its hydrocarbon potential can be adequately assessed.


2010 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 35
Author(s):  
Peter Green

Peter Green is the Geoscience Manager: Energy Geoscience in the Geological Survey Queensland and has extensive experience in basin studies, geoscience and the development of petroleum regulation in Queensland. This paper provides a summary of the land releases for petroleum exploration for onshore areas and coastal waters of Australia for 2010. The summaries include upstream petroleum acreage opportunities for the states and the Northern Territory, and geothermal energy exploration opportunities. The rise in interest in export liquefied natural gas projects has ensured petroleum exploration and production has remained strong. Interest in acquiring petroleum acreage to explore for both conventional and non-conventional plays remains high. Australian state and the Northern Territory governments continue to provide access to land and promotional opportunities for companies to undertake exploration and development of our petroleum resources. Acreage on offer provides a mix of exploration opportunities from conventional oil and gas through to the unconventional plays such as shale gas and tight gas. This change in acreage on offer reflects the changing nature of the onshore petroleum industry in Australia.


2008 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 359
Author(s):  
Marita Bradshaw

Each year the Australian Government releases new offshore opportunities for petroleum exploration. Thirty-five new exploration areas located across five of Australia’s offshore sedimentary basins are offered in the 2008 Release. All the areas are available through a work program bidding system with closing dates for bids at six and 12 months from the date of release. Acreage in the first round closes on 9 October 2008 and includes the more explored areas. The second closing round on 9 April 2009 comprises acreage located in less well explored and frontier regions. The 2008 exploration areas are in Commonwealth waters offshore of Western Australia and the Northern Territory, and in the Territory of the Ashmore and Cartier Islands adjacent area. The 2008 Release focusses on the North West Shelf, as well as offering two new exploration areas in the Vlaming Sub-basin in the offshore Perth Basin. Seven of the new release areas are located in Australia’s major hydrocarbon producing province, the Carnarvon Basin. They include a shallow water area in the western Barrow Sub-basin and another on the Rankin Platform, three areas in deeper water in the Exmouth Sub-basin and two on the deepwater Exmouth Plateau. Six areas are available for bidding in the Browse Basin and another five in the Bedout Sub-basin of the Roebuck Basin. In the Bonaparte Basin, the 15 Release areas are located in shallow water and represent a range of geological settings, including the Vulcan and Petrel sub-basins, Ashmore Platform and Londonderry High. The 2008 Offshore Petroleum Exploration Release of 35 areas in five basins covers a wide range in size, water depth and exploration maturity to provide investment opportunities suited to both small and large explorers. The Release areas are selected from nominations from industry, the States and Territory, and Geoscience Australia. The focus of the 2008 Release is on the North West Shelf where there is strong industry interest in the producing Carnarvon and Bonaparte basins and in the Browse Basin, the home of super-giant gas fields under active consideration for development. Also included in the 2008 Release is the Bedout Sub-basin, in the Roebuck Basin, located on the central North West Shelf, between the hotly contested Carnarvon and Browse basins. In addition, the Release show-cases the southern Vlaming Sub-basin, Perth Basin, where recent studies by Geoscience Australia provide a new understanding of petroleum potential (Nicholson et al, this volume).


2010 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 726 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lidena Carr ◽  
Russell Korsch ◽  
Leonie Jones ◽  
Josef Holzschuh

The onshore energy security program, funded by the Australian Government and conducted by Geoscience Australia, has acquired deep seismic reflection data across several frontier sedimentary basins to stimulate petroleum exploration in onshore Australia. Detailed interpretation of deep seismic reflection profiles from four onshore basins, focussing on overall basin geometry and internal sequence stratigraphy, will be presented here, with the aim of assessing the petroleum potential of the basins. At the southern end of the exposed part of the Mt Isa Province, northwest Queensland, a deep seismic line (06GA–M6) crosses the Burke River structural zone of the Georgina Basin. The basin here is >50 km wide, with a half graben geometry, and bounded in the west by a rift border fault. Given the overall architecture, this basin will be of interest for petroleum exploration. The Millungera Basin in northwest Queensland is completely covered by the thin Eromanga Basin and was unknown prior to being detected on two seismic lines (06GA–M4 and 06GA–M5) acquired in 2006. Following this, seismic line 07GA–IG1 imaged a 65 km wide section of the basin. The geometry of internal stratigraphic sequences and a post-depositional thrust margin indicate that the original succession was much thicker than preserved today and may have potential for a petroleum system. The Yathong Trough, in the southeast part of the Darling Basin in NSW, has been imaged in seismic line 08GA–RS2 and interpreted in detail using sequence stratigraphic principles, with several sequences being mapped. Previous studies indicate that the upper part of this basin consists of Devonian sedimentary rocks, with potential source rocks at depth. In eastern South Australia, seismic line 08GA–A1 crossed the Cambrian Arrowie Basin, which is underlain by a Neoproterozoic succession of the Adelaide Rift System. Stratigraphic sequences have been mapped and can be tied to recent drilling for mineral and geothermal exploration. Shallow drill holes from past petroleum exploration have aided the assessment of the petroleum potential of the Cambrian Hawker Group, which contains bitumen in the core, indicating the presence of source rocks in the basin system.


2011 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 703
Author(s):  
Lidena Carr ◽  
Russell Korsch ◽  
Wolfgang Preiss ◽  
Sandra Menpes ◽  
Josef Holzschuh ◽  
...  

The Onshore Energy Security Program—funded by the Australian Government and conducted by Geoscience Australia—has acquired deep seismic reflection data in conjunction with state and territory geological surveys, across several frontier sedimentary basins to stimulate petroleum exploration in onshore Australia. Here, we present data from two seismic lines collected in SA and NT. Seismic line 08GA-OM1 crossed the Arckaringa and Officer basins in SA and the southern-most Amadeus Basin in NT. Seismic line 09GA-GA1 crossed the northeastern part of the Amadeus Basin and the complete width of the southern Georgina Basin in NT. Structural and sequence stratigraphic interpretations of the seismic lines will be presented here, followed by an assessment of the petroleum potential of the basins. Seismic line 08GA-OM1 also crosses the Neoproterozoic to Devonian eastern Officer Basin. The basin is structurally complex in this area, being dominated by south-directed thrust faults and fault-related folds—providing potential for underthrust petroleum plays. The northern margin of the basin is overthrust to the south by the Mesoproterozoic Musgrave Province. To the north, the Moorilyanna Trough of the Officer Basin is a major depocentre of up to 7,000 m deep. Both seismic lines cross parts of the eastern Amadeus Basin. Seismic line 08GA-OM1 shows that the southern margin of the basin is overthrust to the north by the Musgrave Province with the main movement during the Petermann Orogeny. In the northeast, seismic line 09GA-GA1 crosses two parts of the basin separated by the Paleoproteroozic to Mesoproterozoic Casey Inlier (part of the Arunta Region). The northern margin of the basin is imaged seismically as a southward-verging, thinned-skinned thrust belt, showing considerable structural thickening of the stratigraphic succession. Seismic line 09GA-GA1 was positioned to cross that part of the southern Georgina Basin that was considered previously to be in the oil window. Here, the basin has a complex southern margin, with Neoproterozoic stratigraphy being thrust interleaved with basement rocks of the Arunta Region. The main part of the basin, containing a Neoproterozoic to Devonian succession, is asymmetric, thinning to the north where it overlies the Paleoproterozoic Davenport Province. The well, Phillip–2, drilled adjacent to the seismic line, intersected basement at a depth of 1,489 m, and has been used to map the stratigraphic sequences across the basin.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 580-597
Author(s):  
Mohamad Hamzeh ◽  
Farid Karimipour

AbstractAn inevitable aspect of modern petroleum exploration is the simultaneous consideration of large, complex, and disparate spatial data sets. In this context, the present article proposes the optimized fuzzy ELECTRE (OFE) approach based on combining the artificial bee colony (ABC) optimization algorithm, fuzzy logic, and an outranking method to assess petroleum potential at the petroleum system level in a spatial framework using experts’ knowledge and the information available in the discovered petroleum accumulations simultaneously. It uses the characteristics of the essential elements of a petroleum system as key criteria. To demonstrate the approach, a case study was conducted on the Red River petroleum system of the Williston Basin. Having completed the assorted preprocessing steps, eight spatial data sets associated with the criteria were integrated using the OFE to produce a map that makes it possible to delineate the areas with the highest petroleum potential and the lowest risk for further exploratory investigations. The success and prediction rate curves were used to measure the performance of the model. Both success and prediction accuracies lie in the range of 80–90%, indicating an excellent model performance. Considering the five-class petroleum potential, the proposed approach outperforms the spatial models used in the previous studies. In addition, comparing the results of the FE and OFE indicated that the optimization of the weights by the ABC algorithm has improved accuracy by approximately 15%, namely, a relatively higher success rate and lower risk in petroleum exploration.


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