The Australian Government, through the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, routinely funds Geoscience Australia to acquire pre-competitive data to support prospectivity assessments of various offshore basins. As part of the Australian Government's National CO2 Infrastructure Plan (Carbon Storage Taskforce 2009), a marine seismic reflection survey, Gippsland Basin Infill 2D Marine Seismic Survey - GA0352, was undertaken in the offshore southern margin of the Gippsland Basin to investigate potential sites suitable for CO2 geological storage (Langford, 2016).

The annual offshore petroleum exploration acreage release is part of the government’s strategy to promote offshore oil and gas exploration. Each year, the government invites companies to bid for the opportunity to invest in oil and gas exploration in Australian waters. The 21 areas shown have been nominated by petroleum industry stakeholders to be considered for the 2021 acreage release. Areas nominated for release will not receive endorsement from government until submissions resulting from a public consultation process can be considered. This publication does not indicate a commitment to a particular course of action.

Annual update of map backing the combined GA/RET NAPE Conference brochure.

The 2021 Offshore Greenhouse Gas Storage Acreage Release is a key strategy of the Australian Government to reduce emissions and support Australia's resource sector. The GHG acreage release will provide companies the opportunity to explore for offshore carbon dioxide injection and storage locations. The 2021 GHG acreage release consists of 5 areas across the Bonaparte, Browse and Northern Carnarvon Basins.

The Canning Basin is a large intracratonic basin in Western Australia that remains one of the least explored Paleozoic basins in the world. Recent resource assessments have renewed interest in the basin, in particular for unconventional gas within Ordovician organic-rich shales, although these proposed plays remain untested. Exploring for the Future (EFTF) is a program dedicated to exploring Australia’s resource potential and boosting investment. Launched in 2016 with $100.5 million in funding from the Australian Government, it initially focused on northern Australia. Geoscience Australia and the Geological Survey of Western Australia collected new, pre-competitive datasets in the frontier Kidson Sub-basin to better understand its energy resource potential. Here we present an overview of the regional petroleum systems with a focus on the modelled Ordovician section within the Kidson Sub-basin and Barnicarndy Graben (previously Waukarlycarly Embayment). Three Larapintine petroleum systems are recognised in the Ordovician (L2), Devonian‒earliest Carboniferous (L3), and Carboniferous (L4) successions of the Canning Basin. Integration of petroleum systems with interpretation of the Kidson Sub-basin seismic survey 18GA-KB1 shows that the Ordovician section is extensive, and hence, the Larapintine 2 Petroleum System is of most exploration interest across this frontier region. Ordovician organic-rich units are known within the Nambeet (Tremadocian–Floian), Goldwyer (Dapingian–Darriwilian) and Bongabinni (Sandbian) formations; however, only Nambeet and Goldwyer source rocks are considered to be present within the Kidson Sub-basin. Oil and gas shows occur within Ordovician and Silurian reservoirs, of which many are sub-salt. The range in the geochemical profile of shows from Goldwyer, Nita and Sahara reservoirs implies generation from numerous source units within the Goldwyer and Bongabinni formations. The origin of oil and gas shows within the Nambeet and Willara formations, including those in Patience 2 in the Kidson Sub-basin, is unknown but imply the presence of multiple lower Ordovician source units and include the Nambeet Formation. Within the Kidson Sub-basin, Kidson 1 is located closest to the main depocentre, whereas other wells are proximal to shelves and margins. In general, these latter wells return discouraging hydrocarbon potential pyrolysis parameters as a consequence of their sub-optimal location for source rock development and thermal maturation history. Kidson 1 penetrates the Goldwyer Formation and has TOC contents that are considered more representative of source rock richness (although diesel contamination is present) within the depocentre. Data paucity is the key limitation in resource evaluation for the Kidson Sub-basin, as such, an evaluation with volumetrics is not possible. 1D petroleum systems models of ten wells located in either the Kidson Sub-basin, Willara Sub-basin or Barnicarndy Graben were constructed to resolve whether potential source rocks were capable of hydrocarbon generation. The models demonstrate maturation of Ordovician source rocks resulting in near-complete transformation during Permian to Triassic deposition and burial. A 2D petroleum systems model constructed along the regional 2D seismic line 18GA-KB1 predicts full maturation of Larapintine 2 source rocks in the deeper parts of the Kidson Sub-basin. Expulsion and migration is considered to have taken place during the Permian‒Triassic, with potential accumulations trapped by evaporitic and fine-grained units of Ordovician and Silurian age.

The annual offshore petroleum exploration acreage release is part of the government’s strategy to promote offshore oil and gas exploration. Each year, the government invites companies to bid for the opportunity to invest in oil and gas exploration in Australian waters. The areas shown have been nominated by petroleum industry stakeholders to be considered for the 2022 acreage release. Areas nominated for release will not receive endorsement from government until submissions resulting from a public consultation process can be considered. This publication does not indicate a commitment to a particular course of action.

This product is a map of the major Australian petroleum fields and pipelines (2010).

plate B from AGSO Bulletin 166 Available from GA Library

The Cooper Basin is a late Carboniferous-Middle Triassic intracratonic basin in northeastern South Australia and southwestern Queensland. The basin is one of Australia's premier onshore hydrocarbon producing provinces and, by providing domestic gas for the East Coast Gas Market, is nationally significant. This study reviews the distribution, quality and maturity of source rocks across the Cooper Basin and forms part of Geoscience Australia's source rock program. All publicly-available total organic carbon (TOC) content and Rock-Eval pyrolysis data for the Cooper Basin were compiled into a single database, quality checked and compiled by well and formation to highlight the multiple viable source rock units throughout the Permian. The Toolachee and Patchawarra formations represent the principal source rocks in the basin. These comprise coals and carbonaceous shales deposited in fluvial deltaic and peat swamp environments and show good to very good oil and gas source potential. Additional source intervals include the gas prone lacustrine Roseneath and Murteree shales, as well as coals and carbonaceous shales of the Daralingie and Epsilon formations. Permian source rock distribution was investigated using lithofacies mapping combined with geochemistry data. Lithofacies maps published for South Australia were integrated with electrofacies data from Queensland to produce new, internally consistent, net source thickness maps for key intervals, including coals and carbonaceous shales of the Toolachee and Patchawarra formations, and the Roseneath and Murteree shales. Pyrolysis data that indicate the presence of an in-situ source rock with remaining hydrocarbon generation potential (i.e. TOC > 2% and S1+S2 > 3 mg hydrocarbons/g rock) were mapped by formation, demonstrating the broad extent of Permian source rocks across the basin. Toolachee and Patchawarra source rocks are present in most major depocentres, including the Windorah Trough and Ullenbury Depression in the northern part of the basin, where maximum coal thicknesses still reach more than 10 m. Source rocks within the Roseneath and Murteree shale are generally restricted to the southern Cooper Basin.

The Australian Gas Distribution Licences Dataset is comprised of data acquired from state government, state/territory energy regulators, and company websites; and 'State of the Energy Market 2007' published by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER). The dataset is maintained on an ongoing basis, with source material acquired from company websites and state/territory agencies. Each gas distribution licence has information containing the following attributes; Lic_Number, Location, State, Network_Len, Asset_Base, Owner, Operator, Lic_Start, Lic_Expire, Lic_Update, Source1. This dataset has been developed in conjunction with a number of related datasets including electricity distribution licences, and gas and electricity retail licences.