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Geoscience Poster G10: Addressing exploration uncertainties in the southern Bonaparte Basin: enhanced stratigraphic control and post drill analysis for upper Permian plays

R. Owens A *
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A Geoscience Australia, GPO Box 378, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.

* Correspondence to: ryan.owens@ga.gov.au

The APPEA Journal 62 - https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ21406
Published: 3 June 2022

Abstract

Poster G10

The upper Permian to lower Triassic sedimentary succession in the southern Bonaparte Basin represents an extensive marginal marine depositional system that hosts several gas accumulations, including the Blacktip gas field that has been in production since 2009. Development of additional identified gas resources has been hampered by reservoir heterogeneity, as highlighted by preliminary results from a post drill analysis of wells in the study area that identify reservoir effectiveness as a key exploration risk. The sedimentary succession that extends across the Permian–Triassic stratigraphic boundary was deposited during a prolonged marine transgression and shows a transition in lithofacies from the carbonate-dominated Dombey Formation to the siliciclastic-dominated Tern and Penguin formations. Recent improvements in chronostratigraphic calibration of Australian biostratigraphic schemes, spanning the late Permian and early Triassic, inform our review of available palynological data, and re-interpretation and infill sampling of well data. The results provide a better-resolved, consistent and up-to-date stratigraphic scheme, allowing an improved understanding of the timing, duration and distribution of depositional environments of the upper Permian to lower Triassic sediments across the Petrel Sub-basin and Londonderry High.

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Keywords: biostratigraphy, Bonaparte Basin, North West Shelf, Permian–Triassic boundary, Petrel Sub-basin, post drill analysis, reservoir, stratigraphy.

Ryan Owens is a Geoscientist in Geoscience Australia’s Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division, Advice, Investment Attraction and Analysis Branch. He graduated from Australian National University in 2007 with a BSc in Geology (Hons). Subsequently he worked in mineral exploration before undertaking a PhD in Paleoceanography at the Research School of Earth Sciences, ANU. Since joining Geoscience Australia through the graduate program in 2014, Ryan has contributed to a number of projects including the northern Houtman Sub-basin prospectivity study, the Geological and Bioregional Assessments of the Beetaloo and Cooper Basins and the annual Acreage Release. Member: PESA, GSA.