New insights into the deep-water Otway Basin – Part 2. Tectonostratigraphic framework revealed by new seismic data

Alex Karvelas is the exploration lead for the Exploration Data Australasia region based in Perth. His role includes interpretation on depth imaging and reprocessing projects but also supporting new acquisition projects from survey design, data processing, through to final delivery. In addition to supporting live projects in Australasia, he is also actively part of the Exploration and Petroleum Systems Modelling groups that support exploration campaigns and basin hydrocarbon assessment projects around the world.

Tekena West is a senior exploration geoscientist for Exploration Data Europe and Africa region based in London. He has a decade of industry experience in regional 2D and 3D land/marine seismic interpretation and petroleum prospectivity evaluation for exploration and development projects for sedimentary basins worldwide including Northern and Southern Gulf of Mexico, North Sea, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Angola, Mozambique, New Zealand and Australia. He received his master’s degree in Exploration Geophysics from the University of Leeds.

Chris Nicholson joined Geoscience Australia in 2004. He is a structural geologist and basin analyst in the Basin Systems Branch of GA’s Mineral, Energy and Groundwater Division where he works on regional prospectivity studies of Australia’s offshore basins. His current focus is the Otway Basin, and prior to that, he was a director of the North West Margins Energy Systems team investigating the prospectivity of Triassic interval across the central NWS. He has previously led and been involved in similar hydrocarbon prospectivity studies and CO₂ storage assessments in the Browse Basin and other frontier offshore basins, including the northern Perth, Mentelle and Bight basins and the Vlaming and Bremer sub-basins. He graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Geology from the Australian National University in 2000. He is a member of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia (PESA) and South East Asia Petroleum Exploration Society (SEAPEX).

Steve Abbott joined Geoscience Australia in 2013 where he works on regional tectonic and stratigraphic studies of Australia’s offshore basins. Past roles include mineral exploration (mainly sedimentary uranium in central Australia), teaching and research (Southern Cross University, James Cook University and University of Tasmania) and regional mapping (Northern Territory Geological Survey). He earned his qualifications in sedimentary geology from Flinders (Hons 1987) and James Cook universities (PhD 1994).

George Bernardel is a geoscientist in the Offshore Energy Systems Branch in the Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division of Geoscience Australia. He gained his BSc (Honours) in Geophysics from the University of Sydney in 1986 and joined Geoscience Australia in 1995. His current role is the seismic mapping of Cretaceous–Cenozoic sequences and structure across the offshore Otway Basin.

Cameron Mitchell is a senior geoscientist in Geoscience Australia of the Energy Systems Branch and has 20 years of experience in the offshore geoscience realm where he has performed a diverse range of roles. These include basin and margin petroleum and CO₂ prospectivity analysis using seismic, remote sensing and physical acquisition and integration within the 3D realm. He has been responsible for managing several large geophysical data and remote-sensed acquisition programs, and in 2007, he was a chief scientist of the Bight Basin Sampling and Seepage Survey. Recently, he implemented a Branch modernisation project and previously worked on the tectonostratigraphic studies of the deep-water Otway and Sorell basins and the Houtman Basin.

Victor (Dan) Nguyen holds BE and ME (Petroleum Engineering) degrees from the University of New South Wales. As part of his degrees, he researched on techno-economics of CO₂ geological sequestration in Australia. He published and presented his work on a number of international conferences. He has five years of oil and gas industrial experience working for Schlumberger in Australia, Malaysia, India, Middle East and Africa. Since 2009, he has worked as a petroleum engineer at Geoscience Australia assessing the CO₂ geological storage potential of Bonaparte, Gippsland and Browse basins as well as petroleum prospectivity in the Roebuck Basin. He is currently contributing to a regional geological study in the Otway Basin.

Merrie-Ellen Gunning has over 20 years of experience in the Oil and Gas industry where she has performed a diverse range of roles from strategic planning, business development and operations management to technical roles specialising in geophysics and exploration. Added to this is 5 years of experience in the aluminium industry across the value chain from extraction, mining bauxite and nepheline, through refining alumina to smelting. In addition to her extensive knowledge of industry in Australia, her experience has included postings to Indonesia, Norway, the United States, Russia and Singapore and overseeing operations across the world. She has an MBA from Melbourne Business School and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Geology. She joined Geoscience Australia in August 2015 and has worked on a wide range of prospectivity and CO₂ storage projects, leading the Energy Systems Branch throughout 2017 and is currently a director of Offshore Energy Systems.

Dr. Irina Borissova is a retired senior geoscientist with 27 years of experience in Geoscience Australia. She graduated from Moscow State University and in 1985 gained a PhD from the Russian Academy of Sciences in Marine Geology and Tectonics. Since joining Geoscience Australia in 1993, she contributed to geological studies of many areas on the Australian margin. She also contributed to GA-IODP and GA-universities collaboration on frontier basins and was a member of ANZIC Science Committee between 2014 and 2018. The most recent work includes the Vlaming Sub-basin CO₂ storage assessment and petroleum prospectivity study of the Houtman Sub-basin. She is also a member of PESA.

Oliver Schenk is a senior basin and petroleum system modeller for Schlumberger, technically supporting new ventures work. He has more than 14 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 to the basin and petroleum system modelling group at Stanford University, mentoring graduate students and providing occasionally guest lectures. He received his Diploma degree in Geology from RWTH 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.