Thermal history of the Carrara Sub-basin: insights from modelling of the NDI Carrara 1 drill hole
Tehani J. Palu A * , Emmanuelle Grosjean A , Liuqi Wang A , Christopher J. Boreham A and Adam H. E. Bailey AA Geoscience Australia, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
The APPEA Journal 63 S263-S268 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ22048
Accepted: 22 February 2023 Published: 11 May 2023
© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of APPEA. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY)
Abstract
NDI Carrara 1 is a 1751 m stratigraphic drill hole completed in 2020 as part of the MinEx CRC National Drilling Initiative, in collaboration with Geoscience Australia and Northern Territory Geological Survey under the Exploring for the Future program. It is the first stratigraphic test of the Carrara Sub-basin, a recently discovered depocentre in the South Nicholson region. The drill hole intersected Cambrian and Proterozoic sediments consisting of organic-rich black shales and a thick sequence of interbedded black shales and silty-sandstones with hydrocarbon shows. A comprehensive analytical program carried out by Geoscience Australia on the recovered continuous core from 283 m to total depth at 1751 m provides critical data for understanding this area. Using data from this drilling campaign, thermal history modelling was undertaken to provide an estimate of the time-temperature maxima that the sub-basin has experienced, contributing to an understanding of hydrocarbon maturity. Kerogen kinetics are used to estimate the petroleum prospectivity of the sub-basin and attempt to understand the timing and nature of hydrocarbon generation. Combined, these newly modelled data provide insights into the resource potential of this frontier Proterozoic–Paleozoic hydrocarbon province, delivering foundational data to support explorers across the eastern Northern Territory and northwest Queensland.
Keywords: Carrara Sub-basin, hydrocarbon, MinEx, NDI Carrara 1, Northern Territory, petroleum, petroleum systems modelling, Proterozoic, resource potential, South Nicholson Basin, temperature, thermal history model.
Tehani J. Palu (nee Kuske) holds a Masters in Earth Science with first class honours from the University of Waikato, New Zealand, and has been with Geoscience Australia since 2009. Tehani has been a Petroleum Systems Analyst in the Onshore Energy Systems team since 2014 at Geoscience Australia after working on several other related projects including carbon capture and storage monitoring and offshore acreage release. |
Emmanuelle Grosjean is an Organic Geochemist at Geoscience Australia working in the Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division. Emmanuelle applies organic geochemistry to assess the hydrocarbon prospectivity of Australia’s offshore and onshore sedimentary basins. Emmanuelle holds a Doctorate Degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of Strasbourg, France. Emmanuelle joined Geoscience Australia in 2005. |
Liuqi Wang is a Well Analyst at Geoscience Australia working in the Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division. He received his PhD in Petroleum Engineering and worked as a research fellow at the University of New South Wales before joining Geoscience Australia. His research interests include petrophysics, static and dynamic reservoir modelling, applied statistics and artificial intelligence. |
Christopher J. Boreham is a Principal Petroleum Geochemist at Geoscience Australia working in the Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division. He obtained his BSc (Hons) in Chemistry from the University of Queensland and was awarded a PhD in Chemistry at ANU. Chris has a wide experience in the application of organic geochemistry to the evolution of oil and gas in Australian sedimentary basins. In 2010 he received the Australian Organic Geochemistry Conference Medal for lifetime achievement in the field of Organic Geochemistry. |
Adam H.E. Bailey is a Petroleum Geoscientist at Geoscience Australia, with expertise in petroleum geomechanics, structural geology and basin analysis. He graduated with a BSc (Hons) in 2012 and a PhD in 2016 from the Australian School of Petroleum at the University of Adelaide. Working with the Onshore Energy Systems team at Geoscience Australia, Adam is currently working on the Exploring for the Future Program. |
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