ORIGIN OF GILMORE GAS AND OIL, ADAVALE BASIN, CENTRAL QUEENSLAND

1998 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 399 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.J. Boreham ◽  
R.A. de Boer

Dry gas in the Gilmore Field of the Adavale Basin has been sourced from both wet gas associated with oil generation, together with methane from a deep, overmature source. The latter gas input is further characterised by a high nitrogen content co-generated with isotopically heavy methane and carbon dioxide. The eastern margin of the Lissoy Sandstone principal reservoir unit contains the higher content of overmature dry gas supporting reservoir compiirtmenmlisalion and a more favourable migration pathway to this region. The combination of a molecular and multi-element isotopic approach is an effective tool for the recognition of an overmature, dry gas source. This deep source represents a play concept that previously has been undervalued and may be more widespread within Australian sedimentary basins.The maturity level of the wet gas and associated oil are identical, having reached an equivalent vitrinite reflectance of 1.4−1.6 per cent. Modelling studies support the concept of local Devonian source rocks for the wet gas and oil. Reservoir filling from late stage, high maturity oil and gas generation and expulsion, was a result of reactivation of petroleum generation from Devonian source rocks during the Early Cretaceous. The large input of dry gas from a deeper and highly overmature source is a more recent event. This gas can fractionally displace condensable C2+ liquids already in the reservoir possibly allowing tertiary migration into younger reservoirs, or adjacent structures.Oil recovered from Gilmore-2 has been sourced from Devonian marine organic matter, deposited under mildly evaporitic, restricted marine conditions. The most likely source rocks in the Adavale Basin are the basal marine shale of the Log Creek Formation, algal shales at the top of the Lissoy Sandstone, and the Cooladdi Dolomite. Source-sensitive biomarkers and carbon isotope composition of the Gilmore-2 oil have much in common with other Devonian-sourced oils from the Bonaparte and Canning basins. The chemical link between western and eastern Australian Devonian oils may suggest diachronous development of source rocks over a wide extent. This implies that the source element of the Devonian Petroleum Supersystem may be present in other sedimentary basins.

2003 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 117 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.J. Boreham ◽  
J.E. Blevin ◽  
A.P. Radlinski ◽  
K.R. Trigg

Only a few published geochemical studies have demonstrated that coals have sourced significant volumes of oil, while none have clearly implicated coals in the Australian context. As part of a broader collaborative project with Mineral Resources Tasmania on the petroleum prospectivity of the Bass Basin, this geochemical study has yielded strong evidence that Paleocene–Eocene coals have sourced the oil and gas in the Yolla, Pelican and Cormorant accumulations in the Bass Basin.Potential oil-prone source rocks in the Bass Basin have Hydrogen Indices (HIs) greater than 300 mg HC/g TOC. The coals within the Early–Middle Eocene succession commonly have HIs up to 500 mg HC/g TOC, and are associated with disseminated organic matter in claystones that are more gas-prone with HIs generally less than 300 mg HC/g TOC. Maturity of the coals is sufficient for oil and gas generation, with vitrinite reflectance (VR) up to 1.8 % at the base of Pelican–5. Igneous intrusions, mainly within Paleocene, Oligocene and Miocene sediments, produced locally elevated maturity levels with VR up to 5%.The key events in the process of petroleum generation and migration from the effective coaly source rocks in the Bass Basin are:the onset of oil generation at a VR of 0.65% (e.g. 2,450 m in Pelican–5);the onset of oil expulsion (primary migration) at a VR of 0.75% (e.g. 2,700–3,200 m in the Bass Basin; 2,850 m in Pelican–5);the main oil window between VR of 0.75 and 0.95% (e.g. 2,850–3,300 m in Pelican–5); and;the main gas window at VR >1.2% (e.g. >3,650 m in Pelican–5).Oils in the Bass Basin form a single oil population, although biodegradation of the Cormorant oil has resulted in its statistical placement in a separate oil family from that of the Pelican and Yolla crudes. Oil-to-source correlations show that the Paleocene–Early Eocene coals are effective source rocks in the Bass Basin, in contrast to previous work, which favoured disseminated organic matter in claystone as the sole potential source kerogen. This result represents the first demonstrated case of significant oil from coal in the Australian context. Natural gases at White Ibis–1 and Yolla–2 are associated with the liquid hydrocarbons in their respective fields, although the former gas is generated from a more mature source rock.The application of the methodologies used in this study to other Australian sedimentary basins where commercial oil is thought to be sourced from coaly kerogens (e.g. Bowen, Cooper and Gippsland basins) may further implicate coal as an effective source rock for oil.


2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 365-396
Author(s):  
Debra Higley ◽  
Catherine Enomoto

Nine 1D burial history models were built across the Appalachian basin to reconstruct the burial, erosional, and thermal maturation histories of contained petroleum source rocks. Models were calibrated to measured downhole temperatures, and to vitrinite reflectance (% Ro) data for Devonian through Pennsylvanian source rocks. The highest levels of thermal maturity in petroleum source rocks are within and proximal to the Rome trough in the deep basin, which are also within the confluence of increased structural complexity and associated faulting, overpressured Devonian shales, and thick intervals of salt in the underlying Silurian Salina Group. Models incorporate minor erosion from 260 to 140 million years ago (Ma) that allows for extended burial and heating of underlying strata. Two modeled times of increased erosion, from 140 to 90 Ma and 23 to 5.3 Ma, are followed by lesser erosion from 5.3 Ma to Present. Absent strata are mainly Permian shales and sandstone; thickness of these removed layers increased from about 6200 ft (1890 m) west of the Rome trough to as much as 9650 ft (2940 m) within the trough. The onset of oil generation based on 0.6% Ro ranges from 387 to 306 Ma for the Utica Shale, and 359 to 282 Ma for Middle Devonian to basal Mississippian shales. The ~1.2% Ro onset of wet gas generation ranges from 360 to 281 Ma in the Utica Shale, and 298 to 150 Ma for Devonian to lowermost Mississippian shales.


1988 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.R. Katz

Of the 5 largest basins, with over 20,000 km and 4 km plus of sediments, only one (Taranaki) has seen more than reconnaissance exploration. The other basins have barely been scratched, with results that in all cases remain inconclusive. There is a wide potential still untested in New Zealand. Two examples are presented: The Wanganui Basin, where the older part of the sequence has never been drilled. Wells were located on buried hills with older sediments onlapping along flanks. There are extensive updip wedgeouts and potential for structural-stratigraphic trap combinations. Aspects of source rock and flushing, while initially thought of as downgrading prospects, may look more favourable upon proper evaluation. East Coast Basin. With very thick. Cretaceous-Tertiary sediments, multiple deformation, local unconformities and facies changes, this is one of the more exiting basins, measuring 40,000-50,000 km2 on and offshore. Oil and gas generation is widespread, source rocks being of Paleocene and Cretaceous age. Potential reservoirs are Cretaceous and Miocene sandstones and Oligocene and Pliocene limestones, the latter of excellent qualities. Lower Tertiary, undercompacted and gas-charged mudstones may be an additional target for gas production. Shale diapirism has contributed widely to structural trap formation. Since 1960, only 14 wells have been drilled, of which I offshore. This amounts to 0.3 wells per 1,000 km2, or 0.6 m/km2.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (24) ◽  
pp. 8317
Author(s):  
Qiang Cao ◽  
Jiaren Ye ◽  
Yongchao Lu ◽  
Yang Tian ◽  
Jinshui Liu ◽  
...  

Semi-open hydrous pyrolysis experiments on coal-measure source rocks in the Xihu Sag were conducted to investigate the carbon isotope evolution of kerogen, bitumen, generated expelled oil, and gases with increasing thermal maturity. Seven corresponding experiments were conducted at 335 °C, 360 °C, 400 °C, 455 °C, 480 °C, 525 °C, and 575 °C, while other experimental factors, such as the heating time and rate, lithostatic and hydrodynamic pressures, and columnar original samples were kept the same. The results show that the simulated temperatures were positive for the measured vitrinite reflectance (Ro), with a correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.9861. With increasing temperatures, lower maturity, maturity, higher maturity, and post-maturity stages occurred at simulated temperatures (Ts) of 335–360 °C, 360–400 °C, 400–480 °C, and 480–575 °C, respectively. The increasing gas hydrocarbons with increasing temperature reflected the higher gas potential. Moreover, the carbon isotopes of kerogen, bitumen, expelled oil, and gases were associated with increased temperatures; among gases, methane was the most sensitive to maturity. Ignoring the intermediate reaction process, the thermal evolution process can be summarized as kerogen0(original) + bitumen0(original)→kerogenr (residual kerogen) + expelled oil (generated) + bitumenn+r (generated + residual) + C2+(generated + residual) + CH4(generated). Among these, bitumen, expelled oil, and C2-5 acted as reactants and products, whereas kerogen and methane were the reactants and products, respectively. Furthermore, the order of the carbon isotopes during the thermal evolution process was identified as: δ13C1 < 13C2-5 < δ13Cexpelled oil < δ13Cbitumen < δ13Ckerogen. Thus, the reaction and production mechanisms of carbon isotopes can be obtained based on their changing degree and yields in kerogen, bitumen, expelled oil, and gases. Furthermore, combining the analysis of the geochemical characteristics of the Pinghu Formation coal–oil-type gas in actual strata with these pyrolysis experiments, it was identified that this area also had substantial development potential. Therefore, this study provides theoretical support and guidance for the formation mechanism and exploration of oil and gas based on changing carbon isotopes.


1995 ◽  
Vol 13 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 245-252
Author(s):  
J M Beggs

New Zealand's scientific institutions have been restructured so as to be more responsive to the needs of the economy. Exploration for and development of oil and gas resources depend heavily on the geological sciences. In New Zealand, these activities are favoured by a comprehensive, open-file database of the results of previous work, and by a historically publicly funded, in-depth knowledge base of the extensive sedimentary basins. This expertise is now only partially funded by government research contracts, and increasingly undertakes contract work in a range of scientific services to the upstream petroleum sector, both in New Zealand and overseas. By aligning government-funded research programmes with the industry's knowledge needs, there is maximum advantage in improving the understanding of the occurrence of oil and gas resources. A Crown Research Institute can serve as an interface between advances in fundamental geological sciences, and the practical needs of the industry. Current publicly funded programmes of the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences include a series of regional basin studies, nearing completion; and multi-disciplinary team studies related to the various elements of the petroleum systems of New Zealand: source rocks and their maturation, migration and entrapment as a function of basin structure and tectonics, and the distribution and configuration of reservoir systems.


The Rock–Eval pyrolysis and LECO analysis for 9 shale and 12 coal samples, as well as, geostatistical analysis have been used to investigate source rock characteristics, correlation between the assessed parameters (QI, BI, S1, S2, S3, HI, S1 + S2, OI, PI, TOC) and the impact of changes in the Tmax on the assessed parameters in the Cretaceous Sokoto, Anambra Basins and Middle Benue Trough of northwestern, southeastern and northcentral Nigeria respectively. The geochemical results point that about 97% of the samples have TOC values greater than the minimum limit value (0.5 wt %) required to induce hydrocarbon generation from source rocks. Meanwhile, the Dukamaje and Taloka shales and Lafia/Obi coal are found to be fair to good source rock for oil generation with slightly higher thermal maturation. The source rocks are generally immature through sub-mature to marginal mature with respect to the oil and gas window, while the potential source rocks from the Anambra Basin are generally sub-mature grading to mature within the oil window. The analyzed data were approached statistically to find some relations such as factors, and clusters concerning the examination of the source rocks. These factors were categorized into type of organic matter and organic richness, thermal maturity and hydrocarbon potency. In addendum, cluster analysis separated the source rocks in the study area into two groups. The source rocks characterized by HI >240 (mg/g), TOC from 58.89 to 66.43 wt %, S1 from 2.01 to 2.54 (mg/g) and S2 from 148.94 to 162.52 (mg/g) indicating good to excellent source rocks with kerogen of type II and type III and are capable of generating oil and gas. Followed by the Source rocks characterized by HI <240 (mg/g), TOC from 0.94 to 36.12 wt%, S1 from 0.14 to 0.72 (mg/g) and S2 from 0.14 to 20.38 (mg/g) indicating poor to good source rocks with kerogen of type III and are capable of generating gas. Howeverr, Pearson’s correlation coefficient and linear regression analysis shows a significant positive correlation between TOC and S1, S2 and HI and no correlation between TOC and Tmax, highly negative correlation between TOC and OI and no correlation between Tmax and HI. Keywords- Cretaceous, Geochemical, Statistical, Cluster; Factor analyses.


Geofluids ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunfang Cai ◽  
Chenlu Xu ◽  
Wenxiang He ◽  
Chunming Zhang ◽  
Hongxia Li

The potential parent source rocks except from Upper Permian Dalong Formation (P3d) for Upper Permian and Lower Triassic solid bitumen show high maturity to overmaturity with equivalent vitrinite reflectance (ERo) from 1.7% to 3.1% but have extractable organic matter likely not contaminated by younger source rocks. P3d source rocks were deposited under euxinic environments as indicated by the pyrite δ34S values as light as -34.5‰ and distribution of aryl isoprenoids, which were also detected from the Lower Silurian (S1l) source rock and the solid bitumen in the gas fields in the west not in the east. All the solid bitumen not altered by thermochemical sulfate reduction (TSR) has δ13C and δ34S values similar to part of the P3l kerogens and within the S1l kerogens. Thus, the eastern solid bitumen may have been derived from the P3l kerogens, and the western solid bitumen was likely to have precracking oils from P3l kerogens mixed with the S1l or P3d kerogens. This case-study tentatively shows that δ13C and δ34S values along with biomarkers have the potential to be used for the purpose of solid bitumen and source rock correlation in a rapidly buried basin, although further work should be done to confirm it.


2005 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 253
Author(s):  
D. Dawson ◽  
K. Grice ◽  
R. Alexander

A relationship has been identified between the maturity level of source rocks and the stable hydrogen isotopic compositions (δD) of extracted saturated hydrocarbons, based on the analysis of nine sediments and five crude oils from the Perth Basin (WA). The sediments cover the immature to late mature range. Distinct δD signatures are observed for the immature sediments where pristane and phytane are significantly depleted in deuterium (D) relative to the n-alkanes. With increasing maturity the difference between the δD values of n-alkanes and isoprenoids reduces as pristane and phytane become progressively enriched in D. The n-alkane–isoprenoid δD signature of the crude oils, including one from a different source facies, is similar to mature–late mature sediments representative of the peak oil–generative window. Enrichment of D in isoprenoids is attributed to isotopic exchange associated with thermal maturation. Average δD values of pristane and phytane correlate well with vitrinite reflectance, as does the biomarker maturity parameter Ts/Tm. The limited data set suggests that δD values of aliphatic hydrocarbons may be useful for establishing thermal maturity, particularly when other maturity parameters are not appropriate. Furthermore, we suggest δD values may be useful over a wider maturity range than traditional parameters, particularly at very high maturity where biomarker parameters are no longer effective.


2002 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 259 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.J. Ambrose ◽  
K. Liu ◽  
I. Deighton ◽  
P.J. Eadington ◽  
C.J. Boreham

The northern Pedirka Basin in the Northern Territory is sparsely explored compared with its southern counterpart in South Australia. Only seven wells and 2,500 km of seismic data occur over a prospective area of 73,000 km2 which comprises three stacked sedimentary basins of Palaeozoic to Mesozoic age. In this area three petroleum systems have potential related to important source intervals in the Early Jurassic Eromanga Basin (Poolowanna Formation), the Triassic Simpson Basin (Peera Peera Formation) and Early Permian Pedirka Basin (Purni Formation). They are variably developed in three prospective depocentres, the Eringa Trough, the Madigan Trough and the northern Poolowanna Trough. Basin modelling using modern techniques indicate oil and gas expulsion responded to increasing early Late Cretaceous temperatures in part due to sediment loading (Winton Formation). Using a composite kinetic model, oil and gas expulsion from coal rich source rocks were largely coincident at this time, when source rocks entered the wet gas maturation window.The Purni Formation coals provide the richest source rocks and equate to the lower Patchawarra Formation in the Cooper Basin. Widespread well intersections indicate that glacial outwash sandstones at the base of the Purni Formation, herein referred to as the Tirrawarra Sandstone equivalent, have regional extent and are an important exploration target as well as providing a direct correlation with the prolific Patchawarra/Tirrawarra petroleum system found in the Cooper Basin.An integrated investigation into the hydrocarbon charge and migration history of Colson–1 was carried out using CSIRO Petroleum’s OMI (Oil Migration Intervals), QGF (Quantitative Grain Fluorescence) and GOI (Grains with Oil Inclusions) technologies. In the Early Jurassic Poolowanna Formation between 1984 and 2054 mRT, elevated QGF intensities, evidence of oil inclusions and abundant fluorescing material trapped in quartz grains and low displacement pressure measurements collectively indicate the presence of palaeo-oil and gas accumulation over this 70 m interval. This is consistent with the current oil show indications such as staining, cut fluorescence, mud gas and surface solvent extraction within this reservoir interval. Multiple hydrocarbon migration pathways are also indicated in sandstones of the lower Algebuckina Sandstone, basal Poolowanna Formation and Tirrawarra Sandstone equivalent. This is a significant upgrade in hydrocarbon prospectivity, given previous perceptions of relatively poor quality and largely immature source rocks in the Basin.Conventional structural targets are numerous, but the timing of hydrocarbon expulsion dictates that those with an older drape and compaction component will be more prospective than those dominated by Tertiary reactivation which may have resulted in remigration or leakage. Preference should also apply to those structures adjacent to generative source kitchens on relatively short migration pathways. Early formed stratigraphic traps at the level of the Tirrawarra Sandstone equivalent and Poolowanna Formation are also attractive targets. Cyclic sedimentation in the Poolowanna Formation results in two upward fining cycles which compartmentalise the sequence into two reservoir–seal configurations. Basal fluvial sandstone reservoirs grade upwards into topset shale/coal lithologies which form effective semi-regional seals. Onlap of the basal cycle onto the Late Triassic unconformity offers opportunities for stratigraphic entrapment.


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