Offshore Otway Basin
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The Otway Basin is a northwest-southeast trending rift basin which spans from onshore Victoria and South Australia into the deep-water offshore. The prospective supersequences within the basin are largely of Cretaceous age which host three possible petroleum systems (Austral 1, 2 and 3). While there is production from onshore depocentres, and the inboard Shipwreck Trough, the majority of the offshore basin remains underexplored. Recent regional studies have highlighted the need for further work across the underexplored parts of the basin and here we focus on the offshore northwest Otway Basin, integrating reinterpreted historical well data, newly acquired and recently reprocessed seismic data. This new Well Folio consists of composite logs and supporting data which includes interpreted lithologies, petrophysical analyses, the analysis of historic organic geochemistry and organic petrology. In addition, updated well markers are provided based on seismic interpretation and new biostratigraphy in key wells. This integrated study provides the basis for renewed prospectivity assessment in the northwest offshore portion of the Otway Basin.
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<div>As a resource to enhance exploration in the offshore Otway Basin, Geoscience Australia (GA) has produced a new well folio that extends the scope of a previous release by including 32 key wells from the central and southeast regions. This folio covers the areas from Normanby 1 on the Normanby Terrace, through the Shipwreck Trough and Nelson Sub-basin, to Whelk 1 in the south. The previous well composites included wireline logs for petrophysical analysis, interpreted lithology, organic geochemistry and organic petrology data, and well markers. This folio includes all of these attributes with the addition of core-based depositional environment (DE) and gross depositional environment (GDE) interval interpretations which were subsequently used to constrain wireline interpretation away from core control. The core/wireline lithological interpretation along with further seismic and biostratigraphic data informed well marker locations and enabled a better regional correlation across the basin. The folio provides the complementary datasets used to construct each well composite. Presented at the Australian Energy Producers (AEP) Conference & Exhibition (https://energyproducersconference.au/conference/)
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Geoscience Australia has undertaken a regional seismic mapping study of the offshore Otway Basin extending across the explored inner basin to the frontier deep-water region. Seismic interpretation covers over 18000 line-km of new and reprocessed data acquired in the 2020 Otway Basin seismic program and over 40000 line-km of legacy 2D seismic data. We present new basin-scale isochore maps that show the distribution of the Cretaceous depocentres. Maps for the Lower Cretaceous Crayfish and Eumeralla supersequences, together with those recently published for the Upper Cretaceous Shipwreck and Sherbrook Supersequences, completes the set of isochore maps for the main tectonostratigraphic basin intervals. Mapping of basement involved faults has revealed structural fabrics that have influenced depocentre development. The tectonostratigraphic development of depocentres and maps of deep crustal units delineate crustal thinning trends related to late Cretaceous extension phases. This work highlights the need to review and update structural elements. For example, the boundary between the Otway and Sorell basins is now geologically constrained. The refinements to the tectonostratigraphic evolution of the Otway Basin presented here have important implications for the distribution and potential maturity of petroleum systems, especially with regard to heat flow associated with crustal extension. Presented at the 2024 Australian Energy Producers Conference & Exhibition (AEP) (https://energyproducersconference.au/conference/)
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Geoscience Australia has undertaken a regional seismic mapping study of the offshore Otway Basin extending across the explored inner basin to the frontier deep-water region. Seismic interpretation covers over 18,000 line-km of new and reprocessed data acquired in the 2020 Otway Basin seismic program, over 40,000 line-km of legacy 2D seismic data and GA’s new 2023 Otway 3D post-stack Mega Merge seismic dataset. This work provides a new perspective on regional structural architecture and basin evolution and has important implications for hydrocarbon prospectivity of this region. This seminar was two short talks centring on the Otway Basin. <u>Post-stack 3D merging to fast-track regional interpretation - offshore Otway Basin case study, presented by Merrie-Ellen Gunning</u> This case study was to produce a regularised and seamless 3D dataset of the highest possible quality, for the offshore Otway Basin, within two-months. The input migrated volumes varied by data extent, migration methodology, angle range and grid orientation. Fourteen input volumes totalling 8,092 km2 were post-stack merged and processed to produce a continuous and consistent volume, enabling more efficient and effective interpretation of the region. The surveys were regularised onto a common grid, optimised for structural trend, prior to survey matching. A mis-tie analysis algorithm, applied over a time window optimised for interpretation of key events, was used to derive corrections for timing, phase and amplitude, using a reference. This was followed by time-variant spectral and amplitude matching to improve continuity between volumes. Additional enhancements including noise removal and lateral amplitude scaling were also applied. The final merged volume offers significant uplift over the inputs, providing better imaging of structure and events and dramatically improving the efficiency and quality of interpretation. This enables rapid reconnaissance of the area by explorers. <u>Structural architecture of the offshore Otway Basin presented by Chris Nicholson</u> We present new basin-scale isochore maps that show the distribution of the Cretaceous depocentres. Maps for the Lower Cretaceous Crayfish and Eumeralla supersequences, together with those recently published for the Upper Cretaceous Shipwreck and Sherbrook Supersequences, completes the set of isochore maps for the main tectonostratigraphic basin intervals. Mapping of basement involved faults has revealed structural fabrics that have influenced depocentre development. The tectonostratigraphic development of depocentres and maps of deep crustal units delineate crustal thinning trends related to late Cretaceous extension phases. This work highlights the need to review and update structural elements. For example, the boundary between the Otway and Sorell basins is now geologically constrained. The refinements to the tectonostratigraphic evolution of the Otway Basin presented here have important implications for the distribution and potential maturity of petroleum systems, especially with regard to heat flow associated with crustal extension.