Authors / CoAuthors
Earl, K.L.
Abstract
Petroleum exploration in the Arafura Basin has been restricted to the Goulburn Graben, a dominant central feature within the basin. The graben is over 350 km long and up to 70 km wide, containing a highly deformed sedimentary fill of up to 10 km. To date a total of nine wells have been drilled in the region which test a variety of structural and stratigraphic play types. No commercial discoveries have been made. The most significant drilling result is an oil and gas show in Arafura-1. A review of drilling results has identified a number of exploration risks in the basin: 1) poor quality reservoirs in the Palaeozoic and/or restricted fluid movement; 2) hydrocarbon charge and timing of events; and 3) breach of structure. Most of these issues are related to a Triassic contractional event that caused uplift and erosion. Despite these risks, significant petroleum potential remains for the Arafura Basin as a whole. Firstly the identified risk factors may not apply to the undrilled northern part of the basin, which is the basin depocentre. Secondly, there is strong evidence for viable petroleum systems with source, reservoir and seal rocks present in the sedimentary succession. Evidence for active source rocks is provided by numerous hydrocarbon indications in the wells, including oil shows and bitumen in Arafura-1 and Goulburn-1. Analysis of these shows indicates a probable Cambrian source and there is evidence of significant vertical migration of fluids, with Cambrian oil signatures throughout the Palaeozoic sections. With high quality reservoirs (>20% porosity) and a regional seal, potential exists for accumulations within the overlying Money Shoal Basin. Given the limited petroleum exploration in the Arafura Basin, there remains considerable untested potential in both the Goulburn Graben and the unexplored northern region.
Product Type
nonGeographicDataset
eCat Id
64027
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Custodian
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Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
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Keywords
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- External PublicationConference Paper
- ( Theme )
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- petroleum exploration
- ( Theme )
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- petroleum geology
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- AU-NT
- Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)
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- Earth Sciences
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- Published_Internal
Publication Date
2006-01-01T00:00:00
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geoscientificInformation
Series Information
45
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Unknown
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[-11.0, -8.8, 131.0, 135.0]
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