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Australian Energy Producers Journal Australian Energy Producers Journal Society
Journal of Australian Energy Producers
RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access) (Non peer reviewed)

Resource potential of the Carrara Sub-basin from the deep stratigraphic well NDI Carrara 1

A. H. E. Bailey A * , E. Grosjean A , L. Wang A , C. J. Boreham A , G. A. Butcher A , C. J. Carson A , A. J. M. Jarrett B , L. K. Carr A , C. Southby A , T. J. Palu A and P. A. Henson A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Geoscience Australia, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

B Northern Territory Geological Survey, Darwin, NT, Australia.

* Correspondence to: adam.bailey@ga.gov.au

The APPEA Journal 62 S378-S384 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ21075
Accepted: 8 March 2022   Published: 13 May 2022

© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of APPEA. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY).

Abstract

NDI Carrara 1 is a deep stratigraphic well completed in 2020 as part of the MinEx CRC National Drilling Initiative (NDI), in collaboration with Geoscience Australia and the Northern Territory Geological Survey. It is the first stratigraphic test of the Carrara Sub-basin, a newly discovered depocentre in the South Nicholson Region. The well intersected Proterozoic sediments with numerous hydrocarbon shows, likely to be of particular interest due to affinities with the known Proterozoic plays of the Beetaloo Sub-basin and the Lawn Hill Platform, including two organic-rich black shales and a thick sequence of interbedded black shales and silty-sandstones. Alongside an extensive suite of wireline logs, continuous core was recovered from 283.9 m to total depth at 1750.8 m, providing high-quality data to support comprehensive analysis. Presently, this includes geochronology, geochemistry, geomechanics and petrophysics. Rock-Eval pyrolysis data demonstrate the potential for several thick black shales to be a source of hydrocarbons for conventional and unconventional plays. Integration of these data with geomechanical properties highlights potential brittle zones within the fine-grained intervals where hydraulic stimulation is likely to enhance permeability, identifying prospective Carrara Sub-basin shale gas intervals. Detailed wireline log analysis further supports a high potential for unconventional shale resources. Interpretation of the L210 and L212 seismic surveys suggests that the intersected sequences are laterally extensive and continuous throughout the Carrara Sub-basin, potentially forming a significant new hydrocarbon province and continuing the Proterozoic shale play fairway across the Northern Territory and northwest Queensland.

Keywords: Carrara Sub-basin, Egilabria, Exploring for the Future, EFTF, Lawn Hill Formation, Lawn Supersequence, McArthur Basin, MinEx CRC, NDI Carrara 1, organic content, organic-rich shales, Proterozoic shales, rock properties, shale brittleness, shale gas, South Nicholson Region, TOC.

Adam H. E. Bailey is a Petroleum Geoscientist at Geoscience Australia, with expertise in petroleum geomechanics, structural geology and basin analysis. He graduated with a BSc (Hons) in 2012 and a PhD in 2016 from the Australian School of Petroleum at the University of Adelaide. Adam is currently part of the Onshore Energy Systems team at Geoscience Australia, where he is working on the flagship Exploring for the Future program in Northern Australia.

Emmanuelle Grosjean is an Organic Geochemist at Geoscience Australia, working in the Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division. Emmanuelle applies organic geochemistry to assess the hydrocarbon prospectivity of Australia’s offshore and onshore sedimentary basins. Emmanuelle holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Strasbourg, France. Before joining Geoscience Australia in 2005, she worked on the Precambrian petroleum systems of the South Oman Salt Basin as a Post-doctoral Associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr Liuqi Wang is a well analyst 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 EAGE.

Christopher J. Boreham is a principal petroleum geochemist at Geoscience Australia working in the Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division. He obtained his BSc (Hons) in Chemistry from the University of Queensland and awarded a PhD in Chemistry at ANU. He has worked at Geoscience Australia for four decades. Chris has a wide experience in the application of organic geochemistry to the evolution of oil and gas in Australian sedimentary basins. He has recently extended these geochemical studies to unconventional petroleum (coal seam methane, shale gas and oil), helium, hydrogen and abiogenic hydrocarbons, as well as being involved in CO2CRC’s studies on the injection of CO2 into a depleted natural gas field and a saline aquifer. In 2010 he received the Australian Organic Geochemistry Conference Medal for lifetime achievement in the field of Organic Geochemistry. Chris is a member of PESA and AAPG.

Grace Butcher is a Geologist at Geoscience Australia. She Graduated with a BSc (Hons) in 2010 from the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds. Working with the Onshore Energy Systems team at Geoscience Australia. Grace is currently working on the flagship Exploring for the Future program in Northern Australia, specifically the NDI Carrara 1 drill hole and newly discovered Carrara Sub-basin.

Chris Carson has worked in Antarctica, Canadian Arctic, Alaska, New Caledonia and northern and central Australia, specialising in metamorphic petrology, geochronology and structural geology. Joining Geoscience Australia in 2006, he dabbled in SHRIMP geochronology and, in 2017, joined the Onshore Energy program, working in the South Nicholson Region of the NT.

Dr Amber J. M. Jarrett is a Geochemist working in the Basin Systems section at the Northern Territory Geological Survey. Prior to this, she worked for 7 years in the Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division at Geoscience Australia. Her research interests include basin-hosted resource potential, organic–inorganic geochemistry, isotopes, Proterozoic biomarkers and early life. Amber graduated with a BSc (Hons), with a major in Geology and Biology, in 2008 and a PhD in 2014 from the Australian National University. Amber is also a key researcher in the MinExCRC.

Lidena Carr is a Geoscientist for the Onshore Energy Systems Directorate, Basins Systems Branch, Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division at Geoscience Australia. She graduated from the Australian National University with a BA/BSc (Hons) in 2004, with a major in Geology and Human Ecology. In 2007, she joined Geoscience Australia and then ACRES (satellite imagery), before moving to her current position as a Seismic Interpreter and Basin Analyst. She currently works within the Exploring for the Future program and is a member of GSA.

Chris Southby is a Geoscientist in the Geoscience Australia Resources Division, Energy Systems Branch. He completed his Honours at ANU in 2004 on Palaeo-climate Geochemistry of Corals from Papua New Guinea. Since joining Geoscience Australia in 2008, he has contributed to a number of projects, including the National Carbon Mapping and Infrastructure Plan, the Vlaming Sub-basin CO2 Storage Assessment and the Houtman Sub-basin Prospectivity Project. He is now part of the Onshore Energy Systems team at Geoscience Australia, currently working under the Exploring for the Future program initiative.

Tehani Palu is a Geoscientist in the Onshore Energy Systems section in the Resources Division at GA. She gained her master’s degree from the University of Waikato (New Zealand) in 2009 and joined GA shortly after completing her studies. Tehani has been in her present role since 2013, which sees her doing basin analysis and petroleum systems modelling within the energy systems branch. She is a member of PESA.

Paul A. Henson graduated from the University of Tasmania and is currently the Director of the Onshore Energy Systems section at Geoscience Australia. He has extensive experience in the minerals sector working on mineral systems in Proterozoic and Archaean terranes. Since 2010, he has led the Australian Governments’ Onshore Carbon Storage Program, undertaking deep onshore drilling and seismic acquisition programs in collaboration with the states and industry. He now manages the EFTF Energy program leading to a team of researchers to acquire new precompetitive geoscientific data to improve our understanding of the oil and gas potential of Australian onshore basins.


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