Cooper Basin Regional Petroleum Prospectivity Studies
Lisa Hall 1
Chris Boreham1, Anthony Budd1, Lidena Carr1, Dianne Edwards1, Paul Henson1, Tony Hill 2, John Morton2, Tehani
Palu1, Martin Smith1, Alison Troup 3, Liuqi Wang1
1 Geoscience Australia, ACT
2 Department of State Development, SA
3 Geological Survey Queensland, QLD
Regional Prospectivity Studies - Roundtable for Oil and Gas Projects in SA, Adelaide, Sept 2015
Geoscience Australia’s Petroleum Work Program
• Petroleum program strategic priorities – building Australia’s
resource wealth:
• Predict Australia's energy resource potential and identify new energy
provinces through pre-competitive data and analysis.
• Provide independent information and advice to Government and other
stakeholders and promote Australia's energy resource potential.
• Geoscience Australia’s projects in South Australia:
• Cooper Basin regional prospectivity assessment (Energy Systems
Branch)
• Resource assessments (Resources Advice and Promotions Branch)
• Collaboration with Bioregional Assessment Program (Groundwater
Branch)
• Relevance to Roadmap Themes and Recommendations:
• Attract investment by improving our knowledge of the subsurface
Cooper Basin prospectivity assessment
Improve understanding of basin
scale hydrocarbon prospectivity
Inputs for regional play mapping
and resource assessment
studies
• Prospectivity study workflow:
• 3D basin architecture and
structural evolution
• Geochemistry: source rock
thickness, amount, quality
• Integrated basin modelling:
source rock maturity,
hydrocarbon generation
Regional Prospectivity Studies - Roundtable for Oil and Gas Projects in SA, Adelaide, Sept 2015
Shale
gas
Deep
dry CG BCG Source Seal Res.
Conventional Continuous Gas Plays
Gid
gealp
a G
p
Roseneath
Murteree
Toolachee
Patch.
Epsilon
Daralingie
Regional Basin Architecture
• Cooper Basin regional 3D model
• Updated structure surfaces and isopachs:
• Better integration of datasets across the state border
• Incorporation of new open file well picks and seismic
interpretation
• Stratigraphic ages:
• Updated to GTS 2012, inclusion of revised spore pollen
zone ages (e.g. Nicoll et al., 2015)
Regional Prospectivity Studies - Roundtable for Oil and Gas Projects in SA, Adelaide, Sept 2015
A
B
Distance(km)
Dep
th (
m)
A B
Regional Basin Architecture: Structure Surfaces
Regional Prospectivity Studies - Roundtable for Oil and Gas Projects in SA, Adelaide, Sept 2015
Lithofacies
• Toolachee, Daralingie, Epsilon
and Patchawarra Formations -
coal, silt, shale and sand net
thickness
• South Australia:
• Sun and Camac (2004)
electrofacies mapping,
• updated coal thicknesses
Weena Trough and
surrounds
• QLD: new electrofacies maps
consistent SA methodology
Regional Prospectivity Studies - Roundtable for Oil and Gas Projects in SA, Adelaide, Sept 2015
Toolachee Fm Daralingie Fm
Epsilon Fm Patchawarra Fm
coal coaly shale coal coaly shale
coal coaly shale coal coaly shale
> 100m
Mapping the Cooper Basin’s Source Rocks
• Source rock thickness, richness, quality,
maturity by formation and lithology
• Update and QC GA’s ORGCHEM database
• Map source richness – Total Organic Carbon
(TOC)
• Improve source rock characterisation
• Additional geochemical sampling to improve
understanding of Patchawarra coals
Regional Prospectivity Studies - Roundtable for Oil and Gas Projects in SA, Adelaide, Sept 2015
Source Rock Richness (shales/ coaly shales)
Present Day %TOC
Good/ excellent source rock: TOC > 2%
Source Characterisation Using Organic Geochemistry
• Coals/ coaly shales
• Good quality (HI > 250 mg/gTOC)
• Kerogen type II/III (non-marine)
• Good gas to oil + gas source potential.
Petroleum Systems Modelling for Play Analysis in the Cooper Basin – AAPG ICE 2015
• Shales
• Moderate quality (HI’s < 200 mg/gC)
• Kerogen type III/IV (non-marine)
• Gas prone
Toolachee Fm Roseneath Shale Murteree Shale
Oil
Oil+gas
Gas
Patchawarra Fm
• Shales
• High quality: HI > 300-500 mg/gC
• Kerogen type II, some Type I (marine)
• Oil prone
Barnett Shale (US)
Toolachee/ Patchawarra coals and shales are the best quality source rocks
Roseneath/ Murteree ‘shales’ do not behave like US shales
Jarvie et al.,
2005
Petroleum Generation Potential & Oil/ Gas Windows
• Cooper basin kinetics (Malhstedt et al., 2015):
• Characterises how kerogens transform to oil
and gas with increasing temperature/ maturity
• Cooper specific oil and gas maturity windows:
• Later onset of oil and gas generation compared
with US shales due to different kerogen type
Unconventional Gas Prospectivity Cooper Basin – APPEA 2015
Cooper
Basin
Barnett Shale (Jarvie et al.,2005)
Ro(%) Ro(%)
Early oil 0.75 - 0.9 0.55 – 0.9
Peak oil 0.9 - 1 0.9 – 1.15
Late oil 1 – 1.3
Wet gas 1.3 - 2 1.15 - 1.4
Dry gas 2 – 3.5 >1.4
Over-mature > 3.5 T
ran
sfo
rma
tio
n r
ati
o (
fra
cti
on
)
Source Rock Maturity (Ro %)
0
0.5
1
0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2 2.4 2.8 3.2 3.6 4
Transformation Ratio
Cumulative oil expelled (/mass)
Cumulative gas expelled (/mass)
Source Rock Maturity
• Regional basin and petroleum systems
modelling study:
• Calibrated using over 90 wells (SA & QLD)
• Source rock maturity (Ro%):
• Maturity maps for key depth intervals
• large areas of the Nappamerri, Patchawarra
Troughs are gas mature
• Temperature maps
Regional Prospectivity Studies - Roundtable for Oil and Gas Projects in SA, Adelaide, Sept 2015
Nappamerri Trough (Burley-2)
Mid Patchawarra Top Murteree Mid Toolachee
Source Rock Maturity Maps for key surfaces (Ro%)
Hydrocarbon Generation Potential
Regional Prospectivity Studies - Roundtable for Oil and Gas Projects in SA, Adelaide, Sept 2015
Hydrocarbon Generation by Formation and Lithology (bboe)
• Total hydrocarbons generated by formation and lithology: the best source rocks are
the Patchawarra coals and coaly shales, followed by those of the Toolachee
Formation
• Total Hydrocarbons generated from the Permian Gidgealpa Group > 2000 bboe
Permian HCs
Generated
(mmboe/km2)
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400
Oil and Gas Expelled and Retained
Regional Prospectivity Studies - Roundtable for Oil and Gas Projects in SA, Adelaide, Sept 2015
2000
2000
2000
20002000
3000
3000
3000
4000
40004000
4000 40004000
5000
5000
6000
400 500 600 700
6800
6900
7000
7100
7200
Mid Patch source GOR of Expelled Petroleum (scf/bbl) 0 Ma
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
160 km
u29945 Sep 11 2015
Expelled GOR
Work in progress
• Addition of expulsion models to regional basin and petroleum systems
model => maps of hydrocarbons expelled/ retained
• May be used to map state wide play maps and OHIP (shale gas, deep dry
coal gas, tight gas)
Patchawarra Formation - coal source rock
Cooper Prospectivity Study Outputs
Cooper Basin Prospectivity Report Series
• Mahlstedt et al., 2015. Multi-component kinetics and late gas potential of
selected Cooper Basin source rocks. GA Record 2015/19
• Hall, Hill, Troup et al., in review. Cooper Basin architecture and lithofacies.
• Hall, Boreham, Edwards, Hill, Troup et al., in prep. Source rock geochemistry of
the Cooper Basin
• Hall, Palu, Boreham et al., in prep. Cooper Basin petroleum systems modelling
Data products
• Source Rock Atlas of the Cooper Basin.
Recent conference presentations:
• Kuske et al., 2015. Source Rocks of the Cooper Basin. AAPG ICE.
• Hall et al., 2015. Petroleum systems modelling in Cooper Basin. AAPG ICE.
• Hall et al., 2015. Unconventional gas prospectivity of the Cooper Basin. APPEA
2015 extended abstract
Regional Prospectivity Studies - Roundtable for Oil and Gas Projects in SA, Adelaide, Sept 2015
Malhstedt et al. (2015) GA Record
Download from www.ga.gov.au
Cooper Basin Resource Assessment
Updated assessments required for the Cooper Basin
• Uses new data from recent exploration for shales;
• Incorporates tight oil and gas, deep coals; and
• Is completely transparent and reproducible
GA assessment
• Roseneath and Murteree shales
• Probabilistic Volumetric Analysis method
• Preliminary assessment now complete
• Assessments for other play types to follow
USGS assessment
• Data pack supplied to the USGS 2014
• Assessment to take place late 2015?
Regional Prospectivity Studies - Roundtable for Oil and Gas Projects in SA, Adelaide, Sept 2015
Roseneath and
Murteree Shales
Report Unit Total GIP (tcf)
ACOLA (2013) REM 327
EIA (2013) REM 517
GA
(unpublished)
R-M P90 – 71
P50 – 130
P10 – 220
Cooper subregion -
Bioregional Assessment
• Collaboration between the Department of the
Environment, the Bureau of Meteorology,
CSIRO and Geoscience Australia
• Aim: to better understand the potential impacts
of coal seam gas and large coal mining
developments on water resources and water-
related assets
• Support to GA’s bioregional assessment team
through sharing of regional data
• Cooper subregion – Lake Eyre Basin Bioregional
Assessment products to date:
• Context statement
• Coal and coal seam gas resource
assessment
• Data register
Regional Prospectivity Studies - Roundtable for Oil and Gas Projects in SA, Adelaide, Sept 2015
Download from
http://www.bioregionalassessments.gov.au/
Contributions to Roadmap Recommendations:
Subsurface Geology
• Update ORGCHEM database and conduct source rock
geochemistry review (Recommendation 27)
• Development of regional maps at key stratigraphic levels
for the following (Recommendation 52)
• structure surfaces in depth
• Ro%, temperature maps
• characterize and map Original Hydrocarbons in
Place for each play (OHIP)
• National play maps: development of regional maps
delineating play-trend areas for shale gas, Deep CSG,
Tight Gas, and Coals (Recommendation 31)
• Publications to attract investment focused on describing
unconventional gas plays (Recommendation 45)
Regional Prospectivity Studies - Roundtable for Oil and Gas Projects in SA, Adelaide, Sept 2015
ORGCHEM Ro (%) Input for
play-trend
mapping
GIP
Reports
Phone: +61 2 6249 9111
Web: www.ga.gov.au
Email: [email protected]
Address: Cnr Jerrabomberra Avenue and Hindmarsh Drive, Symonston ACT 2609
Postal Address: GPO Box 378, Canberra ACT 2601
Thank you [email protected]