Structural containment in the Port Campbell Embayment and on the Mussel Platform, Otway Basin, Victoria
Laurent Langhi A C , Ernest Swierczek A , Julian Strand A , Louise Goldie Divko B , David Whittam B and Andrew Ross AA CSIRO Energy, Kensington, Australia.
B Geological Survey of Victoria, Resources Branch, Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions, Melbourne, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Email: Laurent.Langhi@csiro.au
The APPEA Journal 61(2) 646-651 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ20124
Accepted: 26 February 2021 Published: 2 July 2021
Abstract
As part of the Victorian Gas Program, new geological modelling of the Cretaceous to recent deposits in the Port Campbell Embayment and the Mussel Platform was carried out to investigate fault seal and trap integrity. Structural characterisation of the Late Cretaceous to present-day sedimentary sequence highlights cross-cutting fault trends defining potential structural traps containing Waarre Formation reservoirs. The fault trends are primarily controlled by Cretaceous-Paleogene extension and are reactivated during the Paleogene. Seismic facies in the top seal suggest an N-S environmental shift from open-marine to proximal nearshore marine. The quantification of fault membrane seals suggests that while reservoir-on-reservoir juxtapositions may enable some degree of lateral flow, efficient trapping relying on juxtaposition seal against the Belfast or Skull Creek mudstones is widespread. Fault geomechanics suggests that NW-SE and E-W faults accommodated most of the extensional strain and could have been associated with increased vertical structural permeability; however, there are no leakage indicators to support widespread vertical migration. These results do not support previous assumptions that fault seal integrity and top seal bypass represent a critical and widespread issue within the nearshore Otway Basin.
Keywords: fault seal, Otway, Waarre.
Dr Laurent Langhi is a senior research scientist at CSIRO Energy. He holds an MSc and a PhD in geology and geophysics from the University of Lausanne (Switzerland). He joined CSIRO in 2006 after working at the University of Western Australia and as an exploration geologist. He is primarily working on subsurface modelling and flow characterisation for CCS, conventional and unconventional resources. He has been a Research Team and Group Leader in CSIRO Energy Business Unit. |
Ernest Swierczek is a geoscientist with research interest in integration of geological and geophysical data to build valid structural geological models. He holds an MSc in Petroleum Geoscience from AGH University of Science and Technology (Poland) and working towards his PhD from University of Adelaide. He has got broad experience working in geophysical consultancy for CCS, conventional and unconventional resources. In last 2 years he was a part of CSIRO Energy team working on Victorian Gas Program and Beetaloo Basin projects. Currently holds position of Structural Modelling Geologist at BHP in Brisbane. |
Dr Julian Strand is a senior research scientist at CSIRO Energy. He is primarily working on structural geology and issues related to incorporating structural geology into reservoir, basin models, and applying this to hydrogen and CO2 storage. Julian has been based in Perth since 2005 and was part of the Fault Analysis Group for 9 years at the University of Liverpool and latter at University College Dublin (Ireland). He attended the University of Liverpool and Imperial College, London. |
Dr Louise Goldie Divko is the manager of Energy Geoscience at the Geological Survey of Victoria. She manages a team of geoscience specialists who investigate the energy resource potential of Victoria’s sedimentary basins. Louise has previously worked for Schlumberger and in the education sector. Her qualifications include a Bachelor of Science with honours, a Diploma of Education and a Doctor of Philosophy. |
David Whittam is a senior geologist in the Energy Geoscience team at the Geological Survey of Victoria where he is primarily working on petroleum prospectivity assessments of Victoria’s sedimentary basins. David has worked for BHP and Woodside in addition to a number of junior petroleum exploration companies in Australia and the United Kingdom. He holds BSc and MSc degrees from the University of Bristol and University College London, respectively. |
Dr Andrew Ross is a principal research scientist and based at CSIRO. He leads multidisciplinary research projects on basin geology, marine geology and marine monitoring for application to basin prospectivity, CO2 storage and monitoring. Dr Ross joined CSIRO in 2004 and has qualifications in marine biology, oceanography and petroleum geoscience. |
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