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  • Bores sunk at Cremorne in 1891 struck coal at approximately 2802 feet. A company was formed to work the coal, but was refused permission to operate at Cremorne. A site at Balmain was secured, and the Birthday Shaft was sunk to a depth of 2,937 feet between 1897 and 1902. This report provides an overview of the occurrence of natural gas and workings for the period 1897 to 1948. Gas yields, commercial production, leakage problems, and the use of testing to determine the behaviour of gas in the mine are the key subjects that are addressed in this report.

  • A major concern for regulators and the public with geologically storage of gas is the potential for the migration of gas (e.g. CO2) via a leaky fault or well into potable groundwater supplies. Given sufficient CO2, an immediate effect on groundwater would be a decrease in pH which could lead to accelerated weathering, an increase in alkalinity and the release of major and minor ions. Laboratory and core studies have demonstrated that on contact with CO2 heavy metals can be released under low pH and high CO2 conditions (particularly Pd, Ni and Cr). There is also a concern that trace organic contaminants could be mobilised due to the high solubility of many organics in supercritical CO2. These scenarios could potentially occur under a high CO2 leakage event but a small leak might be barely perceptible yet could provide an important early warning for a subsequent and more substantial impact. Different approaches are required for the detection and quantification of these low level leaks and are the subject of this paper. A 3 year groundwater survey was recently completed in the Surat Basin, which forms part of the Triassic-Cretaceous, Great Artesian Basin (GAB) aquifer sequence. In addition to a comprehensive water and isotopic analysis of samples from groundwater wells, gases were collected from groundwater samples and analysed for composition, '13CCO2, '13CCH4 and '2HCH4. Methane is prevalent in the major aquifers in the Surat Basin (e.g. Mooga, Gubbermunda and Hutton sandstones) and is invariably associated with a bacterial (methanogenic) carbonate reduction source, evident from its isotopic signature ('13CCH4 ~ -70', '2HCH4 ~ 220'). In addition to methane and low levels of CO2, trace levels of ethane are often detected.

  • From the beginning of petroleum exploration in the Perth Basin, the importance of the Early Triassic marine Kockatea Shale was recognised as the principal source for liquid petroleum in the onshore northern Perth Basin (Powell and McKirdy, 1976). Thomas and Barber (2004) constrained the effective source rock to a Early Triassic, middle Sapropelic Interval in the Hovea Member of the lower Kockatea Shale. In addition, Jurassic and Permian sourced-oils (Summons et al., 1995) demonstrate local effective non-Kockatea source rocks. However, evidence for multiple effective gas source rocks is limited. This study utilizes the molecular composition and carbon and hydrogen isotopic compositions of 34 natural gases from the Perth Basin, extending the previous study (Boreham et al., 2001) to the offshore and includes hydrogen isotopes and gases. It shows the existence of Jurassic to Permain gas systems in the Perth Basin.

  • Gas is a vital and growing part of the Australian and global energy mix. The gas industry is being transformed due to changes in markets and technology that are bringing new gas resources into play. This report builds on the Australian Energy Resource Assessment (AERA) was first published in March 2010 as a supporting document to the Energy White Paper process. The AERA (Geoscience Australia and ABARE, 2010) is a national prospectus for energy resources. It examined Australia's identified and potential energy resources ranging from fossil fuels and uranium to renewable sources. In the two years following the release of the AERA there have been significant changes in gas resources and within the gas market. This report provides an assessment of Australia's gas resources in 2012 and has been released to contribute to the final phase of the Energy White Paper process. The report documents the growth of gas resources and new projects that underpin an increasing role for gas both in Australia and internationally. For example coal seam gas (CSG) reserves have doubled since 2010 and three CSG/liquid natural gas (LNG) projects are now under construction, In addition, major new offshore conventional gas projects have been committed and commenced construction, including Ichthys in the Browse Basin and Prelude, the world's first floating LNG project. And Australia's third export LNG project, Pluto, has commenced operations.

  • The Geological and Bioregional Assessments (GBA) Program is a series of independent scientific studies undertaken by Geoscience Australia and the CSIRO, supported by the Bureau of Meteorology, and managed by the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. The Program consists of three stages across three regions with potential to deliver gas to the East Coast Gas Market. Stage 1 was a rapid regional prioritisation conducted by Geoscience Australia, to identify those sedimentary basins with the greatest potential to deliver shale and/or tight gas to the East Coast Gas Market within the next five to ten years. This prioritisation process assessed 27 onshore eastern and northern Australian basins with shale and/or tight gas potential. Further screening reduced this to a shortlist of nine basins where exploration was underway. The shortlisted basins were ranked on a number of criteria. The Cooper Basin, the Beetaloo Sub-basin and the Isa Superbasin were selected for more detailed assessment. Stage 2 of the program involved establishing a baseline understanding of the identified regions. Geoscience Australia produced regional geological evaluations and conceptualisations that inform the assessment of shale and/or tight gas prospectivity, ground- and surface-water impacts, and hydraulic fracturing models. Geoscience Australia’s relative prospectivity assessments provide an indication of where viable petroleum plays are most likely to be present. These data indicate areal and stratigraphic constraints that support the program’s further work in Stage 3, on understanding likely development scenarios, impact assessments, and causal pathways. <b>Citation:</b> Hall Lisa S., Orr Meredith L., Lech Megan E., Lewis Steven, Bailey Adam H. E., Owens Ryan, Bradshaw Barry E., Bernardel George (2021) Geological and Bioregional Assessments: assessing the prospectivity for tight, shale and deep-coal resources in the Cooper Basin, Beetaloo Subbasin and Isa Superbasin. <i>The APPEA Journal</i><b> 61</b>, 477-484. https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ20035

  • This Oil and Gas Resources of Australia 2010 publication is the successor to Oil and Gas Resources of Australia 2009 and continues as the definitive reference on exploration, development and production of Australia's petroleum resources. The tables describe: - wells drilled - seismic surveys - petroleum discoveries - petroleum reserves - production and development, including forecasts of crude oil and condensate and a listing of offshore facilities

  • Australia has significant gas resources capable of meeting the needs of domestic and international consumers for decades. Commercial viability of the resource depends on a number of factors such as geology, infrastructure, resource quality, and water depth. Further exploration is required to bring on Australia's lowest cost gas resources.

  • Map of Australia showing the distribution of black coal, brown coal and Coal Seam Gas bearing basins overlain by prohibited areas. This map and enlargements of the Sydney, Bowen/Surat and Arckaringa basins were provided to DoFD as part advice regarding CSG exploration and coal extraction on commonwealth lands. These maps and their subsets are in 'DRAFT' form and are for internal use only.

  • This is the Acreage Release Marine Environmental Data compiled web service to be updated each year with acreage release. It contains the following publicly available datasets, for the 2016 Acreage Release - Marine Survey Towed-video Transects, Marine Sediments Database Samples, Australian Seascapes, Seabed Mud Content on the Northwest Shelf, Seabed Sand Content of the Northwest Shelf and Seabed Gravel Content of the Northwest Shelf.

  • The National Onshore Gas Pipelines Dataset represents the spatial locations of pipelines for the transmission of natural gas within mainland Australia complimented with feature attribution.