Petroleum Prospects of Australian Continental Shelf: ABSTRACT

Abstract

The presence of several large areas of thick sediments has been established on the Australian continental shelf by aeromagnetic surveys and reconnaissance seismic surveys. The more significant areas are seaward extensions of onshore sedimentary basins, but they include large thicknesses of Tertiary and Mesozoic sediments. These areas--the Gippsland, Bass, and Otway basins between Victoria and Tasmania, the Perth, Carnarvon, and Canning basins off Western Australia, the Bonaparte Gulf basin off Western Australia and Northern Territory, the Papuan basin in the Gulf of Papua, and the Sydney basin off New South Wales--include an area of about 250,000 sq mi and a sediment volume of more than 650,000 cu mi. End_Page 712------------------------------ Drilling has begun only in the Papuan, Gippsland, Bass, Otway, Carnarvon, and Canning basins but the few wells that have been drilled confirm the prospects and have resulted in commercial discoveries of oil and gas in Cretaceous and Jurassic rocks at Barrow Island, oil and gas in Eocene and Cretaceous rocks in Gippsland basin, and gas in Miocene rocks in Papuan basin. Many large anticlinal, reef, and delta-form structures are known but have not been tested. In addition, large areas have not been surveyed geophysically. Wells drilled offshore have not penetrated rocks older than Triassic. Therefore, the sedimentary areas of the Australian continental shelf must be regarded as good prospects for oil and gas. End_of_Article - Last_Page 713------------