DEFOSITIONAL FRAMEWORK AND DIAGENESIS OF THE LATE PERMIAN GAS RESERVOIRS OF THE BONAPARTE BASIN

Abstract

Late Permian sandstones form the reservoir of the Tern and Petrel gas fields in the offshore Bonaparte Basin. The producing reservoirs of the Petrel field were deposited in various environments associated with a major northwesterly trending deltaic system. The producing sands in the Tern field were deposited in the shoreface environment of a barrier-bar system.

The reservoir quality of the sands is controlled by the diagenesis, which is facies dependent. In the Petrel field, sandstones deposited in the upper delta plain and along the shoreline are clean, medium-to coarse-grained and highly quartzose but have very low porosity and permeability due to extensive quartz diagenesis. However, sands deposited in delta front and lower delta plain environments are medium to fine grained, argillaceous and have fair to good reservoir potential. In these sands, the dispersed clays formed coats and rims on quartz grains during early diagenesis and inhibited quartz overgrowth. In the Tern field, sands of the upper shoreface have poor reservoir quality due to early calcite cementation. However, finer-grained sandstones of the lower shoreface facies have good reservoir quality. The porosity in these sands is mainly primary and preserved due to low carbonate and high clay content. The processes of quartz and calcite cementation which drastically reduced the reservoir quality of the coarse-grained sands occurred early and were influenced by the texture of the sands and probably also by the chemical character of the formation waters.