Elements of Australian petroleum geology

Conference · Thu May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1986 · Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5161142

Masters, C D; Scott, E W

The petroleum geology of Australia reflects the existence of a large cratonic block broken away from India and Antarctica in the early Mesozoic and early Tertiary that has resulted in a rifted passive-margin character on the northwestern, western, and southern boundaries of the continent. Pre-breakup paleozoic sediments are widely distributed but commonly not deeply buried nor particularly thick, and hence contribute minimally to petroleum resource occurrence. Like their Asian neighbors, much of Australian petroleum geology is nonmarine and associated with marginal rift basins. The small Gippsland basin on the southeastern coast, which is responsible for more than 90% of oil and 28% of the gas discovered in Australia, derives its petroleum from nonmarine Eocene to Cretaceous graben-fill sediments, sealed and buried by Oligocene marine shales. The most active play in Australia is in the Eromanga depression of the Great Artesian basin, where nonmarine oil is trapped stratigraphically in small fields in Jurassic and Cretaceous sandstones. These Mesozoic sediments are sag-fill deposits above the Permian-Triassic Cooper basin, and are responsible for some 12% of the gas reserves in Australia. Offshore of the western coast, graben basins filled with late Paleozoic to Mesozoic sediments are prolific and gas-prone - 55% of reserves - owing to coaly source rocks. North Sea-type, Upper Jurassic grabens off the northwestern coast of Australia contain Kimmeridgian hot shales, but developmental drilling, following the initial Jabiru discovery, has yet to demonstrate large reserves.

• Research Organization: Geological Survey, Reston, VA
• OSTI ID: 5161142
• Report Number(s): CONF-860624-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States) Journal Volume: 70:5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020200* -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
AUSTRALASIA
AUSTRALIA
CENOZOIC ERA
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGIC TRAPS
GEOLOGY
MESOZOIC ERA
PALEOZOIC ERA
PERMIAN PERIOD
PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
RESERVOIR ROCK
ROCKS
SANDSTONES
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SHALES
SOURCE ROCKS
TERTIARY PERIOD
TRIASSIC PERIOD