Energy Resources Assessment

The Energy Resources Assessment work evaluated the prospectivity of energy resources in central Australia, namely the Pedirka and western Eromanga basins.

The Pedirka and Eromanga basins were selected due to their underexplored status and their proximity to oil and gas infrastructure in the Cooper and Amadeus basins.

These basins were assessed by applying an industry standard workflow that builds on exploration concepts ('plays') that describe the presence and effectiveness of reservoir and seal lithologies. Using this workflow, sedimentary sequences were screened for potential hydrocarbons and their suitability to store carbon dioxide (CO₂). The assessment component of the work was supported by the results of 3,750 line km of reprocessed legacy 2D seismic data, which provided new insights into the regional extent of mappable sedimentary sequences and their tectonic overprint.

The results indicated a limited prospectivity of conventional hydrocarbons in the Pedirka Basin and prominent prospectivity for carbon dioxide storage in the shallower Eromanga Basin. Furthermore, stratigraphic correlations clarified the role of unconformities for the delineation of basin boundaries. The work improves our understanding of potential areas for future energy resource developments based on the relative prospectivity assessment of resource commodities. It also established a template for future resource assessments of data-poor, underexplored sedimentary basins.

This work was part of the Exploring for the Future Australia's Future Energy Resources project.

What we did

Key steps in this work included: 

a gap analysis to identify geological uncertainties and data deficiencies in the areas of interest
undertaking basin studies underpinned by reprocessing of selected seismic lines to help address knowledge and data gaps
well failure analysis to assess the significance of previous exploration drilling results for future exploration of hydrocarbon resources and carbon dioxide geological storage opportunities
mapping and analysing the optimal sections for major reservoirs-seal intervals within key chronostratigraphic units
developing a new workflow for assessing unconventional petroleum resources and CO₂ geological storage opportunities based on delineating optimal locations, where either production or injection and storage could be carried out effectively
producing basin-scale prospectivity maps highlighting areas for potential future conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon resource exploration and carbon dioxide geological storage opportunities.

Benefits

The Energy Resources Assessment work provides guidance for possible future investment in resource development through an improved understanding of the energy resource availability in the underexplored regions of the Pedirka and western Eromanga basins. It produced spatially enabled assessments, highlighting the relative prospectivity and areas of interest for potential future exploration, including assessments relating to conventional and unconventional petroleum resources, CO₂ geological storage and green hydrogen projects.  Assessing both energy resources and carbon dioxide abatement opportunities provides a stimulus for projects targeting net-zero emissions.

Outputs

Data and publications

2022. Pedirka-Simpson Basin 2D Reprocessed Seismic Data Package 2021-2022. Geoscience Australia, Canberra
2023. Central Australian Basins 2D Reprocessed Seismic Data Package 2023. Geoscience Australia, Canberra
Bernecker, T., Bradey, K., Bradshaw, B., Iwanec, J., Lund, D., Szczepaniak, M., Owens, R. 2023. The 'Australia's Future Energy Resources' (AFER) project: assessing the energy commodity resources potential in underexplored regions of central Australia. Geoscience Australia, Canberra
Bernecker, T., Bradshaw, B.E., Iwanec, J., Kalinowski, A., Rollet, N. and Tenthorey, E., 2022. The Australia's Future Energy project: investigating the energy resources potential of central Australia. Annual Geoscience Exploration Seminar (AGES) Proceedings, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, 5-6 April 2022, 96-106. Northern Territory Geological Survey, Darwin
Bradshaw, B.E., Iwanec, J, Doig, A, Strong, P.C., and Bernecker, T. in press. A geological framework to support play-based resource assessments in the Pedirka and Simpson basins. Annual Geoscience Exploration Seminar (AGES) Proceedings, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, 5-6 April 2022, 96-106. Northern Territory Geological Survey, Darwin
Iwanec, J., Bradshaw, B.E., Bernecker, T., Doig, A., Ferdinando, D., Jarret, A., Strong, P., Yarmohammadtooksi, Z., in press. Post-drill analysis to assess the prospectivity and geological risks for energy resources in the Pedirka, Simpson and western Eromanga basins. CABS IV Proceedings
Iwanec, J., Bernecker, T., Strong, P. 2023. Underexplored but not forgotten. Assessing the energy resources potential of the greater Pedirka Basin region through play based mapping. Record Vol 63 (S1: Proceedings). Geoscience Australia, Canberra.

Australia's Future Energy Resources

Australia's Future Energy Resources project investigated the national potential for new sediment-hosted energy resources, including oil, natural gas and hydrogen, that can support Australia's transition to net zero emissions by 2050.

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Pedirka-Simpson Basin 2D Reprocessed Seismic Data Package 2021-2022

2022. The seismic data release package contains reprocessed seismic data from 7 surveys acquired between 1974 and 1994.

View dataset

Central Australian Basins 2D Reprocessed Seismic Data Package 2023

2023

View dataset

Map showing the location of the AFER assessment area

The 'Australia's Future Energy Resources' (AFER) project: assessing the energy commodity resources potential in underexplored regions of central Australia

Bernecker, T., Bradey, K., Bradshaw, B., Iwanec, J., Lund, D., Szczepaniak, M., Owens, R. (2023)

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Completed 2024 Energy Resources Assessment