Authors / CoAuthors
Totterdell, J.M. | Struckmeyer, H.I.M. | Boreham, C.J. | Mitchell, C. | Monteil, E.
Abstract
A recent Geoscience Australia geological sampling survey in the Great Australian Bight has provided new evidence for the presence of potential oil-prone source rocks in the Bight Basin. Exploratory drilling in the Bight Basin has historically concentrated on the inboard margins of the basin. Apart from Woodside's Gnarlyknots-1A well, which was drilled in the Ceduna Sub-basin in 2003, only the more proximal parts of the Cretaceous depositional systems of the basin have ever been sampled by drilling. Previous Geoscience Australia work in the Bight Basin predicted the presence of potential source rock intervals at different stratigraphic levels, including mid-Cretaceous marine or marine-influenced sediments whose source rock character was predicted to improve farther basinward. The sampling survey targeted an area at the seaward edge of the Eyre Terrace where canyon formation, slumping and faulting has exposed this Albian-Santonian section. Samples recovered from this area include a suite of carbonaceous marine siltstones and mudstones. Preliminary organic geochemical analysis has shown that some samples of Late Cenomanian-Early Turonian age recovered from the Eyre Terrace have excellent source rock potential, with high organic carbon contents (2.1-6.2% TOC) and the potential to generate liquid hydrocarbons (HI values ranging from 274 to 479 mg hydrocarbons/gTOC). These are the best source rock results yet from the Bight Basin, and demonstrate that targeting the right part of the depositional system is vital for understanding hydrocarbon source potential. 2D petroleum systems modelling of two transects from the Ceduna Sub-basin using source-specific multi-component kinetic parameters, suggests that generation and expulsion from the Late Cenomanian-Early Turonian potential source rock occurred during the mid-Campanian to Recent, resulting in potentially significant accumulations of both liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons within overlying sandstones of the Turonian-Santonian Tiger and/or latest Santonian-Maastrichtian Hammerhead supersequences.
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nonGeographicDataset
eCat Id
65759
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Keywords
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- External PublicationConference Paper
- ( Theme )
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- petroleum geology
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- prospectivity
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- organic geochemistry
- Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)
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- Earth Sciences
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- Published_Internal
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2008-01-01T00:00:00
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