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

Permian source rocks of the onshore and nearshore Carnarvon Basin

Charmaine M. Thomas
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Geological Survey of Western Australia, Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, Mineral House, East Perth, Australia. Email: charmaine.thomas@dmirs.wa.gov.au

The APPEA Journal 61(2) 726-730 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ20199
Accepted: 14 April 2021   Published: 2 July 2021

Abstract

A new sampling program of Permian potential source rocks was undertaken to improve knowledge of the Permian petroleum prospectivity in new parts of the Southern Carnarvon and inboard Northern Carnarvon Basins. Presented here are new Rock-Eval data from previously unsampled wells, drillholes and outcrop and new infill sampling between existing data points. Kerogen assemblages of selected intervals were also determined from palynofacies analysis or organic petrography, which suggests the good Permian source rocks are generally dominated by gas-prone kerogens. Possibly terrestrial-derived oil-prone kerogen can also be frequently found in thin intervals of the upper Permian and more rarely in lower Permian in the onshore northern Carnarvon Basin.

Keywords: Carnarvon Basin, Permian, petroleum prospectivity, petroleum systems, source rock.

Charmaine Thomas is Senior Geoscientist in the Energy Geoscience and Carbon Strategy Group at the Geological Survey of Western Australia. Her main interests are basin analysis and tectonics, and seismic interpretation. She received a B.Sc. (Hons) from the University of Western Australia in 2006, before joining Woodside Energy as a graduate Geologist in 2007. In 2012, she completed her M.Sc. thesis on the numerical modelling of rift basin initiation and evolution at the University of Sydney. Charmaine is a member of PESA and GSA.


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