A REVIEW OF THE RECENT EXPLORATION AND HYDROCARBON POTENTIAL OF THE AMADEUS BASIN, NORTHERN TERRITORY

Abstract

Since commencing operatorship in the Amadeus Basin in June 1980, the Amadeus Joint Venture has acquired 3000 km of multifold seismic data and reprocessed 2500 km of existing single fold and multifold data. These data, integrated with geological, Landsat, gravity and airphoto information, led to the drilling of eight exploration wells, which resulted in two gas discoveries (in the Dingo 1 and West Walker 1 wells) and numerous additional oil and gas shows in the remaining wells.

Interpretation of these multi-discipline data has enabled a number of significant structural trends and styles in the Amadeus Basin to be defined. Individual prospects within some of the major structural trends have now been tested by the drill. This paper describes the nature of these structural trends and illustrates geologically and geophysically typical examples of drilled prospects existing within these trends.

The primary exploration targets in the Amadeus Basin are the Ordovician Stairway and Pacoota Sandstones (confirmed by the Mereenie Oil and Gas Field, Palm Valley Gas Field, and the West Walker gas discoveries) and the Precambrian-basal Cambrian Arumbera Sandstone (confirmed by the Dingo gas discovery). Geochemical and maturation data indicate that significant additional oil and gas accumulations can be discovered in these formations.

Data from Dingo 1, Mt Winter 1 and Finke 1 have again indicated that significant quantities of both oil and gas have been generated in the Late Proterozoic sediments of the Basin. An active exploration program is continuing and will endeavour to confirm these expectations.