Geoscience Poster G6: Petrophysical characterisation of the Neoproterozoic and Cambrian successions in the Officer Basin
Liuqi Wang A *A Geoscience Australia, GPO Box 378, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
The APPEA Journal 62 - https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ21402
Published: 3 June 2022
Abstract
Poster G6
The Neoproterozoic–Paleozoic Officer Basin, located in South Australia and Western Australia, remains a frontier basin for energy exploration, with significant uncertainty due to a paucity of data. As part of Geoscience Australia’s Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program, the objective of this study is to derive the petrophysical properties and to characterise potential reservoirs in the Neoproterozoic–Cambrian sedimentary succession in the Officer Basin through laboratory testing and well log interpretation using both conventional and neural network methods. Laboratory measurements of 41 legacy core samples provide the relationships between gas permeability, Klinkenberg corrected permeability, and nano-scale permeability, as well as grain density, effective and total porosity for various rock types. Conventional log interpretation generates the volume fraction of shale, effective and total porosity from gamma ray and lithology logs. A self-organising map (SOM) was used to cluster the well log data to generate petrophysical group/class index and probability profiles for different classes. Neural network technology was employed to approximate porosity and permeability from logs, conventional interpretation results and class index from SOM modelling. The Neoproterozoic−Cambrian successions have the potential to host both conventional and tight hydrocarbon reservoirs. Neoproterozoic successions are demonstrated to host mainly tight reservoirs with the range in average porosity and geometric mean permeability of 4.77–6.39% and 0.00087–0.01307 mD, respectively, in the different sequences. The range in average porosity and geometric mean permeability of the potential Cambrian conventional reservoirs is 14.54−26.38% and 0.341−103.68 mD, respectively. The Neoproterozoic shales have favourable sealing capacities. This work updates the knowledge of rock properties to further the evaluation of the resource potential of the Officer Basin.
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Keywords: Cambrian, characterisation, Exploring for the Future, laboratory measurement, log interpretation, Neoproterozoic, neural network, Officer Basin, permeability, porosity, reservoir, seal.
Liuqi Wang is a Petrophysics Specialist 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. He is a member of PESA and European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers. |
