In 2021, a total of 21 areas were released for offshore petroleum exploration. They are located in the Bonaparte Basin, Browse Basin, Northern Carnarvon Basin, Otway Basin, Sorell Basin and Gippsland Basin. Despite COVID-19 negatively impacting the industry, participation in the acreage release nomination process was again robust, however, as has been the case in recent years, industry interest is focussed on those areas that are close to existing discoveries and related infrastructure. In tune with the Australian government’s resource development strategy, the areas being offered for exploration are likely to supply extra volumes of natural gas, both for export to SE Asian markets and domestically to meet the forecasted shortage in eastern Australia. According to the 2019 implementation of a modified release process, only one period for work program bidding has been scheduled. The closing date for all submissions is Thursday, 3 March 2022. Geoscience Australia continues to support industry activities by acquiring, interpreting and integrating pre-competitive datasets that are made freely available in the context of the agency’s regional petroleum geological studies. As part of a multidisciplinary study, new data, including regional seismic and petroleum systems modelling for the Otway Basin is now available. Also, a stratigraphic/sedimentological review of the upper Permian to Early Triassic succession in the southern Bonaparte Basin has been completed, the results of which are being presented at this APPEA conference. Large seismic and well data sets, submitted under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 (OPGSSA) are made available through the National Offshore Petroleum Information Management System (NOPIMS). Additional data and petroleum related information can be accessed through Geoscience Australia’s data repository. Appeared in The APPEA Journal 61(2) 294-324, 2 July 2021

Australia is endowed with abundant, high quality energy resources, which provide both affordable and reliable energy for domestic use, and underpin our status as a major global energy provider. Australia continues to have the world’s largest economic uranium resources, the third largest coal resources, and substantial conventional and unconventional natural gas resources. Gas production has grown rapidly in recent years enabled by a series of new LNG projects on the North West Shelf, together with established CSG projects in Queensland. In 2019, Australia became the world’s largest LNG exporter on an annualised basis. Results from Geoscience Australia’s 2021 edition of the Australian Energy Commodity Resources assessment highlight that the nation’s energy commodity resources are widely distributed and include a significant resource potential in many onshore and offshore basins. Knowledge of the existing and untapped resource potential allows decision makers to prioritise development of energy resources that are able to support Australia’s recovery from the recent economic downturn. This aligns well with the Australian Government’s plans to support the development of natural gas resources in order to enable a rapid transition to a low carbon economy. A key component of Australia’s clean energy future and economic recovery will be the development of a hydrogen industry, with hydrogen produced either through electrolysis of water using renewable energy resources (green hydrogen), or manufactured from natural gas or through coal gasification with CCS of the co-produced CO2 (blue hydrogen). Geoscience Australia’s assessment includes a synopsis of the current status of Australia’s rapidly evolving hydrogen industry. Appeared in The APPEA Journal 61(2) 325-330, 2 July 2021

In 2014-15 Geoscience Australia acquired 3,300 km of deep 2D seismic data over the northern part of the Houtman Sub-basin (Perth Basin). Prior to this survey, this area had a very sparse coverage of 2D seismic data with 50-70 km line spacing in the north and an industry grid with 20 km line spacing in the south. Initial interpretation of the available data has shown that the structural style, major sequences, and potential source rocks in this area are similar to those in the southern Houtman and Abrolhos sub-basins. The major difference between these depocentres, however, is in the volume and distribution of volcanic and intrusive igneous rocks. The northern part of the Houtman Sub-basin is adjacent to the Wallaby Plateau Large Igneous Province (LIP). The Wallaby Plateau and the Wallaby Saddle, which borders the western flank of the Houtman Sub-basin, had active volcanism from the Valanginian to at least the end of the Barremian. Volcanic successions significantly reduce the quality of seismic imaging at depth, making it difficult to ascertain the underlying thickness, geometry and structure of the sedimentary basin. The new 2D seismic dataset across the northern Houtman Sub-basin provides an opportunity for improved mapping of the structure and stratigraphy of the pre-breakup succession, assessment of petroleum prospectivity, and examination of the role of volcanism in the thermal history of this frontier basin.

The Australian Petroleum Source Rocks Mapping project is a new study to improve our understanding of the petroleum resource potential of Australia's sedimentary basins. The Permian source rocks of the Cooper Basin, Australia's premier onshore hydrocarbon producing province are the first to be assessed for this project. Quantifying the spatial distribution and petroleum generation potential of these source rocks is critical for understanding both the conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon prospectivity of the basin. Source rock occurrence, thickness, quality and maturity are mapped across the basin and original source amount and quality maps prior to the onset of generation are calculated. Source rock property mapping results and basin specific kinetics are integrated with 1D thermal history models and a 3D basin model to create a regional multi-1D petroleum systems model for the basin. The modelling outputs quantify both the spatial distribution and total maximum hydrocarbon yield for ten source rocks in the basin. Monte Carlo simulations are used to quantify the uncertainty associated with hydrocarbon yield and to highlight the sensitivity of results to each input parameter. The principal source rocks are the Permian coals and carbonaceous shales of the Gidgealpa Group, with highest potential yields from the Patchawarra Formation coals. The total generation potential of the Permian section highlights the significance of the basin as a world class hydrocarbon province. The systematic workflow applied here demonstrates the importance of integrated geochemical and petroleum systems modelling studies as a predictive tool for understanding the petroleum resource potential of Australia's sedimentary basins.

map showing location of currently producing oil and gas fileds and potential future producing fields. Location and extent of oil and gas pipelines (existing and proposed) is also shown.

The Browse Basin lies offshore from Western Australia's Kimberley region and hosts vast accumulations of gas and condensate, making it Australia's next major gas producing province on the North West Shelf. This presentation provides a summary of three areas of the basin where significant petroleum accumulations have been encountered. A summary of the regional geology, evolution and tectonic development of the basin is provided along with a discussion concerning the petroleum potential and reserves of the basin.

Promotional flyer comprising map showing petroleum exploration permits, pipelines and basins in Australia

These data include potentially petroleum relevant shot point and navigation line records of seismic data that has been acquired offshore Australia in the vicinity of the Brremer sub-basin in Western Australia waters.

The nannofossil data lists the occurrence of each species of nannofossil in a sample, with semi-quantitative estimates of abundance. Following the list of species, the nannofossil zone (from the zonations of Martini, 1971, Okada & Bukry, 1980, Burnett, 1998, or Watkins et al., 1996), and the geologic stage interpreted from the nannofossil zone.

The tables contain the analytical data obtained on samples collected from various dredge sites during the Bremer Cruise in the Denmark and Bremer sub-basins. The organic petrological datasets involve vitrinite reflectance, maceral group and maceral class. The organic geochemistry datasets involve Rock Eval, total organic carbon, bitumen extract and gas chromatography.