This presentation comprises information for the Minister to answer the following questions: The minister is looking to build his understanding of the different types of hydrocarbons that come out of the ground (e.g. dry gas, wet gas, condensate, etc.), how are they different and what does that mean for value, ease of production, transport?   Provide some simple diagrams demonstrating the spectrum of hydrocarbon types (e.g. oil to gas), as well as figures demonstrating source rock to hydrocarbon type relationships. Give examples of the molecular structures and difference in composition between condensate, light and mediums oils etc. Use examples from northern Australian basins with a focus on the Beetaloo Sub-basin and the Canning Basin. 25 October 2019

<div>This report presents seal capacity results of nine samples from the Birrindudu and McArthur basins, Northern Territory. Plugs were taken from depths of interest from drill holes Manbulloo S1, Broughton 1, Lamont Pass 3, 99VRNTGSDD1 and WLMB001B. These plugs were analysed via mercury injection capillary pressure testing. This work was conducted by CSIRO under contract to GA as part of the Exploring for the Future program (Officer–Musgrave–Birrindudu Module).</div>

The ca. 1.4 billion years (Ga) old Roper Group of the McArthur Basin, northern Australia, is one of the most extensive Proterozoic hydrocarbon-bearing basins deposited in a large epeiric sea known as the Roper Seaway. Black shales from the Velkerri Formation were deposited in a deep water shoaling sequence and are well preserved in the Altree 2 drillcore in the Beetaloo Sub-basin. These shales were analysed to determine their organic geochemical (biomarker) signatures which were used to interpret the microbial diversity and palaeoenvironment of the Roper Seaway. The results were integrated with published inorganic geochemistry and microfossil distributions. The indigenous hydrocarbon biomarker assemblages describe a water column dominated by bacteria with large scale heterotrophic reworking of the organic matter in the water column or bottom sediment. Evidence for microbial reworking includes a large unresolved complex mixture (UCM) and high ratios of monomethyl alkanes relative to n-alkanes—features characteristic of indigenous Proterozoic bitumen. Steranes, biomarkers for single-celled and multicellular eukaryotes, were below detection limits in all extracts analysed, despite eukaryotic microfossils having been previously identified in the Roper Group. These data suggest that eukaryotes, while present in the Roper Seaway, were ecologically restricted and contributed little to the net biomass. The combination of increased dibenzothiophene in the middle Velkerri Formation and low concentrations of 2,3,6-trimethyl aryl isoprenoids throughout the Velkerri Formation suggest that the water column at the time of deposition was transiently euxinic. As a comparison we reanalysed extracts from the 1.64 Ga Barney Creek Formation of the McArthur Basin. The biomarker assemblages differ between the Velkerri and Barney Creek Formations between is a biomarkers and water column chemistry, demonstrating that the microbial environments and water column geochemistry were variable in the Proterozoic.

The Exploring for the Future Program facilitated the acquisition of major geoscience datasets in northern Australia, where rocks are mostly under cover and the basin evolution, mineral, energy and groundwater resource potential are, in places, poorly constrained. In an effort to support sustainable, regional economic development and build stronger communities in these frontier areas, integration of new and legacy data within a consistent platform could enhance the recognition of cross-disciplinary synergies in sub-surface resource investigations. Here we present a case study in the South-Nicholson Basin, located in a poorly exposed area between the prospective Mt Isa Province and the McArthur Basin. Both regions host major base metal deposits, contain units prospective for energy resources, and hold significant groundwater resources in the overlying Georgina Basin. In this study, we interpret a subset of new regional-scale data, which include ~1 900 km of deep seismic reflection data and 60 000 line kilometres of AusAEM1 airborne electromagnetic survey, supplemented with legacy information. This interpretation refines a semi-continental geological framework, as input to national coverage databases and informs decision-making for exploration and groundwater resource management. This study provides a 3D chronostratigraphic cover model down to the Paleoproterozoic basement. We mapped the depth to the base of intervals corresponding to geological eras, as well as deeper pre-Neoproterozoic superbasin boundaries to refine the cover model. The depth estimates, based on the compilation, interpretation and integration of geological and geophysical datasets, inform the basement architecture controls on evolution of the basin, with several key outcomes: 1) expanded mapped size of the South Nicholson Basin, potentially, increasing prospectivity for hydrocarbons and basin-hosted mineralisation, 2) improved stratigraphic unit correlations across the region, 3) identification of major crustal structures, some of which are associated with mineralisation and springs, and 4) improved basin architecture definition, supporting future investigation of groundwater resources.

Legacy dataset from the NABRE Project, comprising multi-spectral gamma logs obtained on different drill core in the Mount Isa Province to McArthur Basin regions (Northern Territory and Queensland).

The Exploring for the Future program is an initiative by the Australian Government dedicated to boosting investment in resource exploration in Australia. As part of the Exploring for the Future program, this study aims to improve our understanding of the petroleum resource potential of northern Australia. The physical properties of organic matter in sedimentary rocks changes composition in an irreversible and often sequential manner after burial, diagenesis, catagenesis and metagenesis with increasing thermal maturity. Characterising these changes and identifying the thermal maturity of sedimentary rocks is essential for calculating thermal models needed in a petroleum systems analysis. This study presents organic petrology on 15 Proterozoic aged shales from the Velkerri and Barney Creek formations in the McArthur Basin and the Mullera Formation, Riversleigh Siltstone, Lawn Hill and Termite Range formations in the South Nicholson region. Qualitative maceral analysis of the 15 samples are described in addition to bitumen reflectance measurements. These samples were analysed at the Montanuniversität Leoben, Austria in June 2020. The results of this study can be used to improve our understanding of the thermal maturity and hydrocarbon prospectivity of Proterozoic aged sedimentary basins in northern Australia.

<div>This dataset presents results of a first iteration of a 3D geological model across the Georgina Basin, Beetaloo Sub-basin of the greater McArthur Basin and South Nicholson Basin (Figure 1), completed as part of Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future Program National Groundwater Systems (NGS) Project. These basins are located in a poorly exposed area between the prospective Mt Isa Province in western Queensland, the Warramunga Province in the Northern Territory, and the southern McArthur Basin to the north. These surrounding regions host major base metal or gold deposits, contain units prospective for energy resources, and hold significant groundwater resources. The Georgina Basin has the greatest potential for groundwater.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future program provides precompetitive information to inform decision-making by government, community and industry on the sustainable development of Australia's mineral, energy and groundwater resources. By gathering, analysing and interpreting new and existing precompetitive geoscience data and knowledge, we are building a national picture of Australia’s geology and resource potential. This leads to a strong economy, resilient society and sustainable environment for the benefit of all Australians. This includes supporting Australia’s transition to net zero emissions, strong, sustainable resources and agriculture sectors, and economic opportunities and social benefits for Australia’s regional and remote communities. The Exploring for the Future program, which commenced in 2016, is an eight year, $225m investment by the Australian Government. More information is available at http://www.ga.gov.au/eftf and https://www.eftf.ga.gov.au/national-groundwater-systems.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>This model builds on the work undertaken in regional projects across energy, minerals and groundwater aspects in a collection of data and interpretation completed from the first and second phases of the EFTF program. The geological and geophysical knowledge gathered for energy and minerals projects is used to refine understanding of groundwater systems in the region.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>In this study, we integrated interpretation of a subset of new regional-scale data, which include ~1,900 km of deep seismic reflection data and 60,000 line kilometres of AusAEM1 airborne electromagnetic survey, supplemented with stratigraphic interpretation from new drill holes undertaken as part of the National Drilling Initiative and review of legacy borehole information (Figure 2). A consistent chronostratigraphic framework (Figure 3) is used to collate the information in a 3D model allowing visualisation of stacked Cenozoic Karumba Basin, Mesozoic Carpentaria Basin, Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic Georgina Basin, Mesoproterozoic Roper Superbasin (including South Nicholson Basin and Beetaloo Sub-basin of the southern McArthur Basin), Paleoproterozoic Isa, Calvert and Leichhardt superbasins (including the pre-Mesoproterozoic stratigraphy of the southern McArthur Basin) and their potential connectivity. The 3D geological model (Figure 4) is used to inform the basin architecture that underpins groundwater conceptual models in the region, constrain aquifer attribution and groundwater flow divides. This interpretation refines a semi-continental geological framework, as input to national coverage databases and informs decision-making for exploration, groundwater resource management and resource impact assessments.</div><div><br></div><div>This metadata document is associated with a data package including:</div><div>·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Nine surfaces (Table 1): 1-Digital elevation Model (Whiteway, 2009), 2-Base Cenozoic, 3-Base Mesozoic, 4-Base Neoproterozoic, 5-Base Roper Superbasin, 6-Base Isa Superbasin, 7-Base Calvert Superbasin, 8-Base Leichhardt Superbasin and 9-Basement.</div><div>·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Eight isochores (Table 4): 1-Cenozoic sediments (Karumba Basin), 2-Mesozoic sediments (Carpentaria and Eromanga basins), 3-Paleozoic and Neoproterozoic sediments (Georgina Basin), 4-Mesoproterozoic sediments (Roper Superbasin including South Nicholson Basin and Beetaloo Sub-basin), 5-Paleoproterozoic Isa Superbasin, 6-Paleoproterozoic Calvert Superbasin, 7-Paleoproterozoic Leichhardt Superbasin and 8-Undifferentiated Paleoproterozoic above basement.</div><div>·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Five confidence maps (Table 5) on the following stratigraphic surfaces: 1-Base Cenozoic sediments, 2-Base Mesozoic, 3-Base Neoproterozoic, 4-Base Roper Superbasin and 5-Combination of Base Isa Superbasin/Base Calvert Superbasin/Base Leichhardt Superbasin/Basement.</div><div>·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Three section examples (Figure 4) with associated locations.</div><div>Two videos showing section profiles through the model in E-W and N-S orientation.</div>

The Mesoproterozoic Roper Group of the McArthur Basin has excellent petroleum potential but exploration has been hampered by poor constraints on its post-depositional history that has compromised understanding of the tectonostratigraphic evolution of the basin. The Derim Derim Dolerite occupies an important position in the event chronology of the McArthur Basin, having intruded the Roper Group prior to post-Roper basin inversion, and it is also a major component of Mesoproterozoic intraplate mafic magmatism in northern Australia. Since 1997, the Derim Derim Dolerite has been assigned a magmatic crystallisation age of 1324 ± 4 Ma (all uncertainties are 95% confidence), based on unpublished Sensitive High Resolution Ion Micro Probe (SHRIMP) U–Pb analyses on baddeleyite attributed to a dolerite sample from Bureau of Mineral Resources drill-hole Urapunga 5. Herein, we establish that the SHRIMP sample originated from the type locality of the Derim Derim Dolerite in outcrop 90 km northwest of Urapunga 5 and document the 207Pb/206Pb date interpreted from the 1997 dataset. New U–Pb SHRIMP reanalysis of the same grain-mounts yielded a mean 207Pb/206Pb date of 1320.1 ± 5.3 Ma, confirming the 1997 result, and Isotope Dilution-Thermal Ionisation Mass Spectrometry (ID TIMS) analysis of baddeleyites plucked from the mounts yielded a precise mean 207Pb/206Pb date of 1327.5 ± 0.6 Ma. This date is significantly older than a baddeleyite U–Pb ID-TIMS date of ca 1313 Ma recently reported elsewhere from dolerite in the Beetaloo Sub-basin 200 km to the south, indicating that magmatism attributed to the Derim Derim Dolerite spanned at least 10–15 Ma. Previously documented geochemical variation in Mesoproterozoic intraplate mafic rocks across the Northern Territory (such as the 1325 ± 36 Ma Galiwinku Dolerite in the McArthur Basin, 1316 ± 40 Ma phonolites in the Nimbuwah Domain of the eastern Pine Creek Orogen, and 1295 ± 14 Ma gabbro in the Tomkinson Province) may reflect episodic pulses of magmatism hitherto obscured by the low precision of the available isotopic dates. The timing and geochemistry of Derim Derim-Galiwinku mafic igneous activity is strikingly similar to that of the Yanliao Large Igneous Province (LIP) in the northern North China Craton, and the global paucity of 1330–1300 Ma LIPs suggests that the North Australian Craton and the North China Craton were in relatively close proximity at that time.

Exploring for the Future (EFTF) is a four-year $100.5 million initiative by the Australian Government conducted by Geoscience Australia in partnership with state and Northern Territory government agencies, CSIRO and universities to provide new geoscientific datasets for frontier regions. As part of this program, Geoscience Australia acquired two new seismic surveys that collectively extend across the South Nicholson Basin (L120 South Nicholson seismic line) and into the Beetaloo Sub-basin of the McArthur Basin (L212 Barkly seismic line). Interpretation of the seismic has resulted in the discovery of new basins that both contain a significant section of presumed Proterozoic strata. Integration of the seismic results with petroleum and mineral systems geochemistry, structural analyses, geochronology, rock properties and a petroleum systems model has expanded the knowledge of the region for energy and mineral resources exploration. These datasets are available through Geoscience Australia’s newly developed Data Discovery Portal, an online platform delivering digital geoscientific information, including seismic locations and cross-section images, and field site and well-based sample data. Specifically for the EFTF Energy project, a petroleum systems framework with supporting organic geochemical data has been built to access source rock, crude oil and natural gas datasets via interactive maps, graphs and analytical tools that enable the user to gain a better and faster understanding of a basin’s petroleum prospectivity. <b>Citation:</b> Henson Paul, Robinson David, Carr Lidena, Edwards Dianne S., MacFarlane Susannah K., Jarrett Amber J. M., Bailey Adam H. E. (2020) Exploring for the Future—a new oil and gas frontier in northern Australia. <i>The APPEA Journal</i><b> 60</b>, 703-711. https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ19080

The Exploring for the Future program is an initiative by the Australian Government dedicated to boosting investment in resource exploration in Australia. As part of the Exploring for the Future program, this study aims to improve our understanding of the petroleum resource potential of northern Australia. This data release presents the bulk kerogen kinetics of 21 potential source rocks from the McArthur Basin and the Lawn Hill Platform to understand the rate of hydrocarbon conversion. Kerogen was isolated from bulk rock, and analysed by a Rock-Eval 6 (Vinci Technologies, France) using four different temperature ramps. All sample preparation and analyses were carried out in Geoscience Australia’s in-house laboratories. The results of this study can be used to improve our understanding of the hydrocarbon generative potential of Proterozoic aged source rocks in northern Australia.