Revisiting petroleum systems in the Gippsland Basin using new geochemical data*
Herbert Volk A , Manzur Ahmed B , Chris J. Boreham C , Peter Tingate D , Neil R. Sherwood E , Keyu Liu F , Geoffrey O’Brien G and Dianne Edwards HA CSIRO Earth Science and Resource Engineering 11 Julius Ave, North Ryde, 2121 NSW. Email: Herbert.Volk@csiro.au
B CSIRO Earth Science and Resource Engineering 11 Julius Ave, North Ryde, 2121 NSW. Email: Manzur.Ahmed@csiro.au
C Geoscience Australia Hindmarsh Drive, Symonston, ACT 2609. Email: chris.boreham@ga.gov.au
D GeoScience Victoria Level 9, 55 Collins Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000. Email: peter.tingate@dpi.vic.gov.au
E CSIRO Earth Science and Resource Engineering 11 Julius Ave, North Ryde, 2121 NSW. Email: Neil.Sherwood@csiro.au
F CSIRO Earth Science and Resource Engineering 26 Dick Perry Ave, Kensington WA 6151. Email: Keyu.Liu@csiro.au
G GeoScience Victoria Level 9, 55 Collins Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000. Email: Geoff.O’Brien@dpi.vic.gov.au
H Geoscience Australia Hindmarsh Drive, Symonston, ACT 2609. Email: Dianne.Edwards@ga.gov.au
The APPEA Journal 50(2) 728-728 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ09092
Published: 2010
Abstract
The Gippsland Basin is one of the most prolific petroleum provinces in Australia, yet the understanding of source, migration and secondary alteration of petroleum is often based on data and concepts that have been developed decades ago. For instance, the Gippsland Basin is commonly cited as an explicit example of a province dominated by oil from coal, yet there is no literature using molecular and isotope geochemistry explicitly demonstrating that generation and expulsion has been from the coal seams and not the intervening carbonaceous mudstones.
In this study we will present insights from the evaluation of quantitative analyses of aromatic hydrocarbons, which will be evaluated together with low molecular weight hydrocarbon distributions from whole oil gas chromatography and aliphatic biomarker distributions of the oils. Oils are commonly incrementors of different charge events, and hence extending molecular and isotopic information from a wide molecular weight range offers a more detailed insight into the charge history of an oil field. Oil-bearing fluid inclusions are additional archives that hold keys to the fill history of petroleum reservoirs, and this contribution will also present new data on the distribution and composition of palaeo-oils trapped in fluid inclusions. Lastly, examples will be presented of how modern tools for analysis such as compound specific isotopic analysis (CSIA) of n-alkanes and isoprenoids as well as how understanding relationships between organic facies and source rock kinetics can contribute to refining our understanding of petroleum systems in the Gippsland Basin.
Keywords: Gippsland Basin, petroleum geochemistry, biomarkers, aromatic hydrocarbons, petroleum systems, multivariate statistics
Herbert Volk was awarded an MSc degree (1996) in geology from the University of Erlangen, Germany, and a PhD (2000) from the University of Aachen, Germany. Since 2000 he works at CSIRO, where he leads the stream petroleum systems and a team of organic geochemists. He has experience with oils, source rocks and organic matter from the Proterozoic to the Holocene, fluid inclusion oil geochemistry, petroleum microbiology and basin modelling. Member: AAPG, EAOG and PESA. |
Manzur Ahmed completed MSc in applied chemistry in 1980 at the University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh and received training on organic geochemistry at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK and Robertson Research International Limited, UK. He worked as a petroleum geochemist (1980–1996) with the Geochemistry Department of the Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla) and as a research fellow (1992–1993) at the Organic Geochemistry Unit, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. In 1997, he joined the CSIRO division of Petroleum Resources. His research interests are focussed on molecular composition of inclusion (MCI) oils and genetic characterisation of oils, gases and source rocks. |
Chris Boreham is a principal research scientist at Geoscience Australia. He obtained his PhD in bio-inorganic chemistry from the Australian National University, Canberra, Shortly afterwards, Chris joined the Bureau of Mineral Resources—Geoscience Australia’s predecessor—as an organic geochemist. His research interests are in the application of kinetic, biomarker and isotope tools in petroleum geochemistry and the biosphere-geosphere interface as it relates to alteration of petroleum and CO2. Currently, he splits his time between projects related to the geological storage of CO2 and the Australian Government’s New Energy Initiative, involved in understanding the petroleum potential in frontier areas of Australia. |
Peter Tingate is a senior geologist with the Energy Geoscience Group at GeoScience Victoria. He works on the carbon dioxide sequestration potential of Victoria’s sedimentary basins, as well as their petroleum systems. Peter received his BSc (Hons) and PhD from the University of Melbourne and worked at the Australian School of Petroleum (formerly NCPGG) until joining GeoScience Victoria in 2008. He has published papers on basin modelling, diagenesis of sedimentary rocks and geological storage of CO2. Member: PESA and AAPG. |
Neil Sherwood graduated with a BSc honours in geology, from the University of Manitoba, Canada in 1977. He worked as an organic petrologist and studied at the University of Wollongong in the 1980s, graduating with a PhD on organic petrology of oil shales in 1991. Neil worked as an organic petrologist at the University of Wollongong then at a consultancy during the 1980s before joining the CSIRO where he is currently leader of the organic petrology team. Member: The Society for Organic Petrology, International Committee for Coal and Organic Petrology, the Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia and the Executive Council of the Association of Afro-Asian Petroleum Geochemists. |
Keyu Liu is a principal research scientist and research team leader of the Fluid History Analysis Team at CSIRO. His principal research areas are clastic sedimentology, hydrocarbon migration and charge history of petroleum reservoirs and laboratory experiments on enhanced oil recovery. Keyu has a BSc from China Ocean University, an MSc from the University of Sydney, and a PhD from the Australian National University. Member: AAPG, SPE, AGU, IAS and PESA. |
Geoffrey O’Brien has a first-class honours degree and PhD in earth sciences. He has worked in the petroleum exploration sector for over 20 years, including for BHP, Western Mining Petroleum, AGSO/Geoscience Australia, the University of Adelaide and has consulted to a wide number of companies in Australia and overseas. He is presently the manager of the energy geoscience group at GeoScience Victoria. Dr O’Brien’s key technical specialities include the application of integrated petroleum systems approaches to basin evaluation, with an emphasis on basin and migration modelling (1D, 2D and 3D), charge history analysis, remote sensing, fault and top seal analysis and seismic interpretation of hydrocarbon leakage and seepage. Dr O’Brien has won numerous industry awards and was the 1992 PESA Australia Lecturer; he has also published over 170 papers and abstracts. |
Dianne Edwards is a senior geologist in the Acreage Release Project at Geoscience Australia. Her research interests have focussed on the organic geochemical studies of gases, crude oils and source rocks of offshore Australia. Dr Edwards received her BSc Hons degree in Geology and MSc in Organic Petrology and Organic Geochemistry from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK. She was awarded her PhD from the University of Adelaide. Member: PESA, AAPG and the European Association of Organic Geochemists. |
References
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