New imaging results and improved interpretation of Late Triassic depositional features within the Browse Basin, North West Shelf of Australia

Abstract

The Maxima 3D is located approximately 300 km from the north-west coast of Australia, within the Brecknock–Scott Reef anticlinal trend, at the margin of the Scott Plateau and Caswell Sub-basin. The survey was acquired with eight overlapping swaths in and around the Scott Reef, which is a large carbonate build-up on the present-day seafloor. The area within and around the reef trend represents a significant challenge for imaging, involving complex survey acquisition, very shallow to deep water depths and strong velocity distortion associated with the present-day carbonate build-up. In light of this, CGG undertook a reprocessing test of a swath of the Maxima 3D, to apply the latest processing techniques and demonstrate the potential imaging uplift in a very challenging area. The enhanced data swath has led to a step change in interpretation capabilities for the data, resulting in the identification of what is inferred to be a Late Triassic, isolated reef build-up, on a structural high that developed contemporaneous with early basin formation. These Late Triassic reefal build-ups have been identified by CGG within a number of large complexes, through a comprehensive review of the Triassic prospectivity potential, and represent an emerging play type for the North West Shelf.