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BASIN OUTLINE
Introduction
The Arafura Basin is located on the northern margin of Australia in the Arafura
Sea and extends from the onshore Northern Territory to the Australian
Indonesian border (Figure 1). It is located in mostly shallow water, with a
maximum depth of 230 m. The region is under-explored with no commercial
discoveries; nine wells have been drilled within the Goulburn Graben but the
main depocentre to the north (Figure 2) has not been tested.
Basin Summary
The northern margin of Australia is structurally complex and contains three
partially overlapping basins; the McArthur Basin (Paleoproterozoic
Mesoproterozoic), the Arafura Basin (NeoproterozoicPaleozoic) and the
Money Shoal Basin (MesozoicCenozoic) (Figure 1 and Figure 3). The
Australian part of the Arafura Basin extends north from the onshore McArthur
Basin and covers an area of approximately 200,000 km2. The basin contains
up to 15 km of late Neoproterozoic (CryogenianEdiacaran) to Paleozoic
(Cisuralian) sediments, overlain by up to 4 km of Mesozoic (Early Jurassic) to
Cenozoic sediments of the Money Shoal Basin.
The following regional petroleum geology is compiled from a Geoscience
Australia study of the Arafura and Money Shoal basins (Earl, 2006;
Struckmeyer, 2006a, b; Totterdell, 2006) and earlier work by Petroconsultants
(1989), Bradshaw et al (1990), McLennan et al (1990), Labutis et al (1992)
and Miyazaki and McNeil (1998).
BASIN EVOLUTION AND TECTONIC DEVELOPMENT
The Arafura Basin formed in the Neoproterozoic in response to northwest
southeast extension that resulted in the formation of a series of northeast
southwest-trending half graben. Structurally, the Arafura Basin consists of a
southern and northern part, divided by the Goulburn Graben (Figure 1).
The Goulburn Graben is a northwest-trending asymmetric feature, over
400 km long and up to 125 km wide. Seismic data show that Neoproterozoic
half graben extend beyond the Goulburn Graben on both sides. The Goulburn
Graben probably formed in the Pennsylvanian (late Carboniferous) to
Cisuralian (early Permian) in response to oblique extension associated with
2011 Release of Australian Offshore Petroleum Exploration Areas
Regional Geology of the Arafura Basin
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Seals
There is little information about potential Paleozoic seals; however, oil shows
and indications below thick Devonian fine-grained sediments in Arafura 1 and
Goulburn 1 attest to the sealing capacity of this unit (Petroconsultants, 1989).
Oil indications above this seal in Arafura 1 are the result of fault migration
(Labutis et al, 1992; Earl, 2006). Mudstones at the top and base of the
Cambro-Ordovician Goulburn Group may also provide a seal for adjacent
carbonate reservoirs, and Permo-Carboniferous dolerite sills such as that
intersected in Kulka 1 may provide localised seals.
Timing of Generation
Peak oil generation and migration from potential Paleozoic source rocks in the
Goulburn Graben, where all exploration wells are located, pre-dates the
Triassic structural event and thus potential trap formation (Moore et al, 1996;
Struckmeyer, 2006a, b). Despite this, modelling by Struckmeyer (2006b)
demonstrated that some areas in the western Goulburn Graben could have
experienced a late phase of generation and expulsion from potential
Paleozoic source rocks (Figure 5 and Figure 6). For example, this includes
the possibility of a minor phase of late expulsion of light oil from a Type I/II
Cambrian source rock at Tuatara 1, where the lack of success is considered
to be due to an absent or inadequate seal (Earl, 2006). Struckmeyer (2006b)
found that the modelling of hydrocarbons expelled from source rocks within
the Devonian Arafura Group and the Permo-Carboniferous Kulshill Group was
highly sensitive to the amount of Triassic erosion interpreted for any location.
Bearing this in mind, expulsion of hydrocarbons appears to have occurred in
the late Cenozoic from the western Goulburn Graben, an area included in the
northernmost part of Release Area NT11-1 (Figure 6).
Play Types
Interpretation of available seismic data indicates that a variety of potential play
types are present within the western Goulburn Graben (Struckmeyer, 2006b).
Paleozoic plays include large faulted anticlines and fault blocks that could
provide traps at several stratigraphic levels. Sub-unconformity plays below the
Triassic regional unconformity are present within Neoproterozoic, CambroOrdovician, Devonian and Permo-Carboniferous strata. Diagenetic traps and
other stratigraphic traps within the Cambro-Ordovician and Devonian
carbonate successions are a strong possibility in this region, but are untested
and insufficient stratigraphic information is available to allow a detailed
assessment.
Critical Risks
A recent audit of exploration wells in the Goulburn Graben (Earl, 2006)
identified timing of charge, breach of structure and reservoir quality as the
major reasons for the failure to find significant hydrocarbon accumulations.
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EXPLORATION HISTORY
Petroleum exploration in the Arafura region began in the 1920s when several
boreholes were drilled on Elcho Island in response to reported bitumen
strandings. In the 1960s and early 1970s, stratigraphic drilling occurred on
Bathurst and Melville islands (McLennan et al, 1990). During this time, Shell
Development (Australia) was awarded exploration permits covering the
western region of the Arafura Sea and drilled the first well, Money Shoal 1
(1971), in the offshore Money Shoal Basin and penetrated the underlying
Arafura Basin. This well was drilled primarily to test the Mesozoic Money
Shoal Basin sedimentary section. At the same time, Aquitaine was operating
in the central southern region of the Arafura Sea. The two operators carried
out extensive mapping based on seismic data and defined the Goulburn
Graben as an important structural feature.
The next phase of exploration occurred in the early 1980s with several
companies operating in the region, including Diamond Shamrock, Esso,
Petrofina and Sion Resources. A number of wells were drilled at this time, all
of which tested the Paleozoic Arafura Basin sequence. Petrofina drilled two
wells, Arafura 1 (1983) and Goulburn 1 (1985).
Arafura 1 recorded significant oil shows over a 425 m depth range in the
Devonian and Ordovician sections and provides the most important Paleozoic
stratigraphic control in the basin. The company also mapped a number of
large fault-related closures that remain untested (Miyazaki and McNeil, 1998).
Esso drilled two wells, Tasman 1 (1983), which targeted a fault block on a
domal feature originally interpreted as salt-related, and Torres 1 (1983), which
targeted a prominent Paleozoic anticline. Diamond Shamrock drilled Kulka 1
(1984), which provides important stratigraphic control for the Upper Paleozoic
and Mesozoic sections.
A third phase of petroleum exploration by BHP Petroleum in the late 1980s
and early 1990s targeted mostly Mesozoic plays in the Goulburn Graben. The
exploration program included an extensive 17,000 km seismic survey, a
regional aeromagnetic survey, and the drilling of three exploration wells,
Tuatara 1 (1990), Chameleon 1 (1991) and Cobra 1A (1993). During the early
1990s Geoscience Australia (then the Bureau of Mineral Resources) acquired
a total of 5,342 km of regional deep seismic data across the Arafura Basin.
In the past 10 years, further exploration activities have contributed to the
available dataset and have high-graded the prospectivity of the region. These
include, for example, non-exclusive regional 2D seismic data sets by TGS
Nopec in 1998 and Veritas DGC in 2002, and Synthetic Aperture Radar
acquisition and interpretation across the region by Infoterra (2003). Recently,
the PGS GeoStreamer Northern Margin AustraliaArafura Multiclient 2D
(NMWT) seismic survey has been completed
2011 Release of Australian Offshore Petroleum Exploration Areas
Regional Geology of the Arafura Basin
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FIGURES
Figure 1:
Figure 2:
Figure 3:
Figure 4:
Figure 5:
Figure 6:
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REFERENCES
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BOREHAM, C.J. AND AMBROSE, G.J., 2005Cambrian petroleum systems
in the southern Georgina Basin, Northern Territory, Australia. Central
Australian Basins Symposium: petroleum and minerals potential, Alice
Springs, NT, 1618 August 2005.
BRADSHAW, J., NICOLL, R.S. AND BRADSHAW, M., 1990The Cambrian
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ESSO AUSTRALIA LTD, 1983Well Completion Report Tasman 1, Volumes
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FORMAN, D.J. AND WALES, D.W., 1981Geological Evolution of the
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GRADSTEIN, F.M., OGG, J. AND SMITH, A. (EDITORS), 2004A Geologic
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LABUTIS, V., MOORE, A. AND BRADSHAW, J., 1992Arafura Petroleum
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LOGAN, G.A., RYAN, G.J., GLENN, K., ROLLET, N., HEMER, M.,
TWYFORD, L. AND SHIPBOARD PARTY, 2006Shallow Gas and Benthic
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MCLENNAN, J.M., RASIDI, J.S., HOLMES, R.L. AND SMITH, G.C., 1990
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MIYAZAKI, S. AND MCNEIL, B., 1998Arafura Sea. Petroleum Prospectivity
Bulletin and Databases 1998/1. Bureau of Resource Sciences, Canberra.
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NICOLL, R.S., 2006Devonian stratigraphy and biostratigraphy of the
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NICOLL, R.S., SHERGOLD, J.H., LAURIE, J.R. AND BISCHOFF, G.C.O.,
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OGG, J.G., OGG, G. AND GRADSTEIN, F.M., 2008The Concise Geologic
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