Geochemical characteristics of hydrocarbon families and petroleum systems, Bonaparte Basin  

Authors / CoAuthors

Edwards, D.S. | Preston, J.C. | Kennard, J.M. | van Aarssen, B.G.K. | Boreham, C.J.

Abstract

The Vulcan Sub-basin has been actively explored for over twenty years, with oil production from the Jabiru and Challis-Cassini fields, and the depleted Skua Field, all of which were sourced by the Upper Jurassic Lower Vulcan Formation within the Swan Graben. The need to discover other oil-prone petroleum systems led to this study focussing on oils that have a different composition to those of the aforementioned oils. Geochemical analyses (bulk and compound-specific isotopes, GC and GC-MS of saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons) have characterised the Vulcan Sub-basin oils and condensates into three families (Fig 1); a marine oil family (with some terrigenous influence) comprising Jabiru, Challis, Skua, Talbot and Tenacious; a terrestrially-influenced oil family comprising Maret, Montara, Padthaway and Bilyara which have more varied geochemistry; and, a family of condensates from Tahbilk, Swan and Eclipse. The composition of these condensates is more reflective of reservoir alteration effects (such as leakage and gas flushing) than the type of organic matter in their source rocks. The terrestrially-influenced oil family is located in the southernmost part of the Vulcan Sub-basin and in the northern Browse Basin, most probably having being source from the Lower-Middle Jurassic Plover Formation. The Plover Formation contains liquid-prone source rocks within the Skua Trough, albeit immature for hydrocarbon generation. Similar source rocks are believed to occur beneath the Swan and Paqualin grabens since oils with mixed composition are found at Puffin, Pituri and Oliver.

Product Type

nonGeographicDataset

eCat Id

41876

Contact for the resource

Keywords

• External PublicationConference Paper

( Theme )

• petroleum geology

( Theme )

• petroleum exploration

( Theme )

• organic geochemistry

• AU-NT

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

• Earth Sciences

• Published_External

Publication Date

2003-01-01T00:00:00

Creation Date

Security Constraints

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem    

Classification - unclassified

Legal Constraints

Non-Exclusive licence to publish copyright (please provide TRIM link)

Access - license

Use - license

Status

Purpose

Maintenance Information

unknown

Topic Category

geoscientificInformation

Series Information

Lineage

Unknown

Parent Information

Extents

[-15.5, -9, 125.5, 131]

Reference System

Spatial Resolution

Service Information

Associations

Downloads and Links

Download the file (pdf)  

Source Information

Source data not available.