Comprehensive basin-wide 3D petroleum systems modelling providing new insights into proven petroleum systems and remaining prospectivity in the Exmouth Sub-basin, Australia
Oliver Schenk A G , Craig Dempsey B , Robbie Benson C , Michael Cheng C , Sugandha Tewari D , Alex Karvelas E and Giuseppe Bancalà FA WesternGeco, Schlumberger GmbH, Ritterstr.23, 52072, Aachen, Germany.
B BHP Petroleum, 125 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA 6000, Australia.
C BHP Petroleum, 1500 Post Oak Boulevard, Houston TX 77056, USA
D WesternGeco, 26 El-Horreya St., Heliopolis, Egypt.
E WesternGeco, Level 5, 256 St. Georges Terrace, Perth, WA 6000, Australia.
F Schlumberger Italiana SPA, Via Celeste Clericetti 42/A, 20133 Milano, Italy.
G Corresponding author. Email: oschenk@slb.com
The APPEA Journal 60(2) 753-760 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ19026
Accepted: 10 February 2020 Published: 15 May 2020
Abstract
The Exmouth Sub-basin is part of the Northern Carnarvon Basin, offshore north-west Australia, and has undergone a complex tectonic history. Hydrocarbon exploration resulted in the discovery of a variety of oil and gas accumulations; however, their distribution and charge history from different petroleum systems is still poorly understood due to limited knowledge of the deeper basin architecture. The basin-wide, long-offset, broadband 2017 Exmouth 3D multiclient seismic dataset allowed a seamless interpretation into this deeper section. This work revealed new insights on the tectono-stratigraphic evolution of the Exmouth Sub-basin. Mesozoic extension, that was restricted to the latest Triassic, was followed by a sag phase with homogeneous, shale-dominated deposition, resulting in source rock potential for the entire Jurassic section. These findings, together with potential field modelling, were integrated into this first basin-wide 3D petroleum system model to better constrain the thermal history and petroleum systems. The model improved our understanding of the complex charge history of hydrocarbon fields. It predicts that hydrocarbon expulsion from Late Jurassic source rocks continued into the Late Cretaceous, a period when the regional Early Cretaceous Muderong Formation was an efficient seal rock. This implies that, in addition to long-distance, sub-Muderong migration, vertical, short-distance migration may have contributed significant petroleum charge to the discovered accumulations in the southern Exmouth Sub-basin. The model also predicts additional prospective areas: fault-seal structures within Early Cretaceous intervals north of the Novara Arch, intra-formational Late Jurassic sandstones north of the current fields (with low biodegradation risk) and Triassic reservoirs along the basin margins and north of the Jurassic depocentre.
Keywords: basin and petroleum system modelling, charge history, crustal modelling, hydrocarbon prospectivity, potential field modelling, sealing efficiency, tectono-stratigraphic evolution, thermal history.
Oliver Schenk is a Senior Basin and Petroleum System Modeller for WesternGeco Multiclient (Schlumberger), technically supporting new ventures work. Oliver has more than 13 years of experience in multi-dimensional applications of basin and petroleum system modelling in the international petroleum exploration industry. Since 2007, he has been affiliated with the basin and petroleum system modelling group at Stanford University, mentoring graduate students and providing occasionally guest lectures. Oliver received his Diplom degree in Geology from Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen University in Germany as well as a PhD in Structural Geology in which he focused on fluid-assisted grain boundary migration in rocks and analogues. |
After graduating with a BSc in Geophysics from Flinders University, Craig Dempsey has spent the last 42 years working in all aspects of petroleum geoscience, from basin analyses through to production geoscience. During this time, he has been involved in projects in all the major Australian, South-east and South Asia basins, the Gulf of Mexico (both the USA and Mexican portions), Algeria and the North Sea. For the past 23 years, he has worked for BHP and is currently based in their Perth office within the Australian Exploration team. |
Robbie Benson graduated from Curtin University in 2012 with a BEng (Hons) in Petroleum Engineering and gained an MSc in Petroleum Geoscience from The University of Adelaide. He has worked for BHP Petroleum since 2015 as a Geoscientist in a variety of exploration and development roles in basins within Australia (Northern Carnarvon and Gippsland basins). He is currently working in BHP’s Caribbean Appraisal Group based in Houston, which focuses on progressing deep-water opportunities offshore Trinidad and Tobago. |
Michael X. Cheng is a Principal Geologist with BHP Petroleum in Houston, USA. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin Madison, USA with a PhD in Hydrogeology. Prior to joining BHP Petroleum in 2012, he worked for Mobil, ExxonMobil and Hess, specialising in integrated petroleum system analysis for basins, including the Gulf of Mexico, Carnarvon and Gippsland, North Sea, offshore Trinidad and Tobago, Canada and Brazil. Michael is a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain. |
Sugandha Tewari is a Senior Geoscientist by profession and has 14 years’ experience in the oil industry. Sugandha started her career in Weatherford and then joined Reliance industries ltd., India, as an Exploration Geologist where she was working in Cauvery Palar Basin (east coast of India). In 2010 she joined WesternGeco as Geoscientist, and since then she has worked in numerous geology and interpretation projects globally, such as Mannar Basin (Sri Lanka), Gulf of Mexico, South Viking Graben (North Sea), Exmouth Basin (north-west Australia), Sub Sahara African basins and currently in the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez. |
Alex Karvelas is the Exploration Lead for the WesternGeco Australasia region based in Perth, Australia. His role primarily involves undertaking prospectivity assessments in addition to the origination and development of new projects in Australasia. Alex is also actively part of the Exploration and Petroleum Systems Modelling groups, which support exploration campaigns and basin hydrocarbon assessment projects around the world. Alex received his MSc in Petroleum Geoscience and MSci in Geology from Imperial College London. |
Giuseppe Bancalà is a Geoscientist for WesternGeco Geosolutions (Schlumberger) dedicated to multiphysics studies. Giuseppe joined the oil and gas industry eight years ago, starting in the field of non-seismic methods for acquisition and processing. After several years working worldwide, he joined the Milan WesternGeco EM Center for data processing, modelling and interpretation with special focus on potential fields and seismic–non-seismic data integration. Before joining the petroleum exploration industry, Giuseppe received a BSc and Msc in Geology and a PhD in Integrated Stratigraphy from Urbino University in Italy, which focused on micropaleontology, magneto-stratigraphy and cycle stratigraphy to investigate paleo-thermal events during the Paleogene. |
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