Browse Basin petroleum accumulations
Tehani Kuske A , Steven le Poidevin A and Dianne Edwards AGeoscience Australia.
The APPEA Journal 55(2) 463-463 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ14098
Published: 2015
Abstract
The Browse Basin lies offshore from WA’s Kimberley region and hosts vast accumulations of natural gas, some are rich in condensate, making it Australia’s next major gas producing province on the North West Shelf.
It is estimated that the Ichthys gas accumulation contains 12.8 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas and 527 million BBL of condensate, and represents the largest hydrocarbon accumulation with recoverable liquids found in Australia since the discovery of the Gippsland Basin and Barrow Island oil fields in the 1960s.
Similar amounts of gas, albeit drier (CGR 20–30 BBL/MMscf) are hosted within the Brecknock, Calliance and Torosa accumulations (cumulative of 15.9 Tcf gas and 436 million BBL condensate). For this reason, the Browse Basin continues to be a focus of exploration, in which both international companies and Australian explorers are capitalising on LNG opportunities.
This extended abstract provides a summary of hydrocarbon accumulations encountered in the Browse Basin (up until late 2014). Accumulations discovered in the Browse Basin include: Abalone, Adele, Argus, Bassett, Torosa, Brecknock and Calliance, Ichthys, Concerto, Mimia, Burnside, Caspar, Caswell, Columba, Cornea, Focus, Sparkle, Crux (including Libra), Hippolyte, Echuca Shoals, Gwydion, Marabou, Poseidon (including Kronos, Boreas, Zephyros and Poseidon North), Crown (including Proteus and Pharos), Psepotus and Lasseter.
The authors provide a summary of the regional geology, evolution and tectonic development of the basin, and discuss the hydrocarbon reserves and hydrocarbon potential of the basin. This provides a guide to assist potential future exploration programs in the Browse Basin.
Tehani Kuske is a geoscientist at Geoscience Australia and part of the energy systems group in the resources division. She gained her MSc (Hons) in micrometeorology from the University of Waikato, New Zealand. Tehani has been with Geoscience Australia since 2009 and has been involved with various projects, including greenhouse gas monitoring, petroleum acreage products and onshore basin studies. She is involved in onshore energy systems studies and is interested in petroleum systems modelling. Member: PESA. |
Stephen le Poidevin was a senior petroleum engineer in the petroleum and greenhouse gas advice group of Geoscience Australia and its predecessors from 1987 to 2014 and is now semi-retired. His interests are in assessing Australian oil and gas reserves and identified resources, and providing engineering technical advice to regulators of Australian offshore petroleum exploration and production. |
Dianne Edwards is a senior research scientist at Geoscience Australia in the energy systems group of the resources division. Her focus is on defining the petroleum systems of Australia’s petroliferous basins and determining the petroleum prospectivity of unconventional hydrocarbons in the onshore basins. She is now undertaking organic geochemical studies on crude oils, gases and source rocks of the Georgina, Cooper and Browse basins. She has extensive experience on the petroleum systems of the North West Shelf, Canning and Otway basins. Dianne 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 and the European Association of Organic Geochemists. |
References
IPB Petroleum, 2014—ASX Announcement: Pryderi 1 exploration well update, 12 November 2014. Accessed 6 January 2015. <http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20141112/pdf/42tnn5qhy1jdf9.pdf>.Le Poidevin, S., Kuske, T.J., Temple, P.R., and Edwards, D.S., 2015—Browse Basin Australian Petroleum Accumulations Report 7–2nd Edition. Geoscience Australia Report, Geocat 82545. Canberra: Geoscience Australia.
Symonds, P.A., Collins, C.D.N., and Bradshaw, J., 1994—Deep structure of the Browse Basin: implications for basin development and petroleum exploration. In: Purcell, P.G. and Purcell, R.R. (eds.) The Sedimentary Basins of Western Australia: Proceedings of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia Symposium, Perth, 315–31.
