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RELEASE AREAS W13-4 AND W13-5,
BARCOO SUB-BASIN, BROWSE BASIN,
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
HIGHLIGHTS
BIDS CLOSE 22 May 2014
 Under-explored areas of untested PermoTriassic tilted fault blocks and Cretaceous
onlap plays
 Thick Lower–Middle Jurassic section with
source potential
 Widespread minor oil and gas shows, small
gas accumulation on Leveque Shelf at
Psepotus 1, and inferred gas column at
Arquebus 1ST1
 Good seismic coverage, including multiple
regional seismic grids and 3D seismic
survey.
 Shallow to deep water depths, 60–1000 m
Figure 1 Location of the 2013 Release Areas in the
Barcoo Sub-basin of the Browse Basin
 Special Notices apply, refer to Guidance
Notes.
Release Areas W13-4 and W13-5 are located within the Barcoo Sub-basin, the southernmost depocentre of the Browse
Basin, and extends onto the Leveque Shelf. W13-5 also overlies the Oobagooma Sub-basin of the offshore Canning
Basin in the south and Rowley Sub-basin of the Roebuck Basin in the southwest. These under-explored areas span the
continental shelf, with water depths ranging from 60 m to over 1000 m.
The Barcoo Sub-basin is approximately 200 km long (northeast–southwest) by 130 km wide (northwest–southeast) and
contains up to 12 km of Paleozoic to Cenozoic sedimentary strata. The most likely source of the hydrocarbons in this
sub-basin is the Lower to Middle Jurassic Plover Formation. Hydrocarbons could also be sourced from PermoCarboniferous and Upper Triassic units in the Oobagooma and Rowley sub-basins, respectively. Miocene faultreactivation inversion anticlines along the margin of the Barcoo Sub-basin and Leveque Shelf provide structural traps,
with an inferred hydrocarbon column at Arquebus 1 ST1. A gas accumulation was intersected in the lower Cretaceous
drape over erosional basement highs on the Leveque Shelf at Psepotus 1, east of the 2013 Release Areas.
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Figure 2 Structural elements of the Barcoo Sub-basin showing petroleum fields and discoveries, the location of the
regional cross-section and the 2013 Release Areas
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Figure 3 Stratigraphy and hydrocarbon discoveries of the Barcoo and Caswell Sub-basins based on the Browse Basin
Biozonation and Stratigraphy Chart (Nicoll et al, 2009). Geologic Time Scale after Gradstein et al (2012). Seismic
horizons used to define BB sequences (AGSO Browse Basin Project Team, 1997) and AGSO regional seismic horizons
(AGSO, 2001) shown
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Figure 4 AGSO seismic line 119/02 across the Barcoo Sub-basin and Leveque Shelf (Geoscience Australia 2001/36).
Location of the line is shown in Figure 2. Regional seismic horizons are shown in Figure 3
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PETROLEUM SYSTEMS ELEMENTS
Barcoo Sub-basin
Sources
 Lower–Middle Jurassic fluvio-deltaic Plover Formation (potentially oil- and gas- prone)
 Upper Jurassic and Cretaceous marine Vulcan Formation (potentially oil-prone, but immature to
marginally mature).
Reservoirs
Potential reservoirs





Seals
Lower–Middle Jurassic fluvio-deltaic Plover Formation
Upper Jurassic marine Vulcan Formation
Lower Cretaceous marine Echuca Shoals Formation
Lower Cretaceous Jamieson Formation
Upper Cretaceous Puffin Formation
Regional Seals
 Upper Jurassic–-Lower Cretaceous marine Vulcan Formation
 Lower Cretaceous marine Echuca Shoals Formation
Potential intraformational seals
 Upper Triassic, deltaic, Nome Formation
 Lower–Middle Jurassic Plover Formation
Traps




Carboniferous to Permian extensional fault-related structural traps
Upper Triassic tilted fault blocks and associated anticlines
Lower Cretaceous onlaps, erosional truncation seal and associated stratigraphic traps
Miocene fault-reactivation anticlines
INFRASTRUCTURE AND MARKETS
The Release Areas are in proximity to the Torosa, Brecknock and Calliance gas fields proposed for LNG and condensate
development.
CRITICAL RISKS
The potential absence of oil source rocks of suitable maturity is a risk in the Barcoo Sub-basin. The Upper Jurassic
succession, the source rock for many North West Shelf oil accumulations, is thin or absent in the Browse Basin. The
Lower Cretaceous succession that provides the charge for the oil fields on the Yampi Shelf is immature to marginally
mature in the Barcoo Sub-basin. Evidence of gas at Arquebus1 ST1 and the gas accumulation at Psepotus 1, suggest
that source, maturity and relative migration/trap timing are not critical risks for gas prospectivity in the Barcoo Sub-basin.
However, fault-reactivation anticlines along the Barcoo Sub-basin boundary with the Leveque Shelf have resulted in a
potential lack of up-dip lateral seal, and possible trap breach.
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DATA SETS
For the Wells Data Listing go to
http://www.petroleum-acreage.gov.au/2013/support/geo.html
For the Seismic Surveys Listing go to
http://www.ga.gov.au/energy/projects/acreage-release-and-promotion/2013.html#data-packages
GEOSCIENCE AUSTRALIA PRODUCTS
Regional Geology and Seismic
 Browse Basin High Resolution Seismic Study - North West Shelf, Australia - Interpretation Report, 1997. Australian
Geological Survey Organisation Record 1997/38. GEOCAT 23689
 Browse Basin Well Composites, 2005. GEOCAT 61819
 Basement and Crustal Structure of the Bonaparte- Browse Basins, 2003. GEOCAT 41976
 Interpreted Horizons and Faults for Seismic Surveys 119 and 130– Digital Horizon and Fault Data in ASCII
format,2001. GEOCAT 35244 and 35248 respectively.
 Line Drawings of AGSO – Geoscience Australia’s Regional Seismic Profiles, Offshore Northern and Northwestern
Australia, Australian Geological Survey Organisation Record 2001/36. GEOCAT 36353
Stratigraphy
 Browse Basin Biozonation and Biostratigraphy Chart No. 32, 2009.GEOCAT 65649
Petroleum Systems and Accumulations
 Hydrocarbon Migration and Seepage in the Timor Sea and Browse Basin North West Shelf Australia: An Integrated
SAR, Geological and Geochemical Study, Australian Geological Survey Organisation Record 2001/11.
GEOCAT 35246
 Browse Basin Organic Geochemistry Study, North West Shelf, Australia, 1997, Australian Geological Survey
Organisation Record 1997/57. GEOCAT 24474
 Subsidence and Thermal History Modelling: New Insights into Hydrocarbon Expulsion from Multiple Petroleum
Systems in the Browse Basin, 2003. GEOCAT 42156
 Geoscience Australia Survey 267, Post Survey Report: Testing Natural Hydrocarbon Seepage Detection Tools on the
Yampi Shelf, Northwestern Australia, Geoscience Australia Record 2005/15. GEOCAT 61717
 Characterisation of Natural Gases from west Australian Basins. 2000. GEOCAT 33569
 Hydrocarbon Generation and Expulsion from Early Cretaceous Source Rocks in the Browse Basin, North West Shelf,
Australia: A Small Angle Neutron Scattering and Pyrolysis Study, Geoscience Australia Record 2007/04. GEOCAT
64144
 Source Rock Time Slice Maps: Offshore Northwest Australia, 2004. GEOCAT 61179
 Oils of Western Australia II: Regional Petroleum Geochemistry and Correlation of Crude Oils and Condensates from
Western Australia and Papua New Guinea, 2005, Geoscience Australia and GeoMark Research. GEOCAT 37512
Contact Geoscience Australia’s Sales Centre for more information or to order these reports or products, phone
61 (0)2 6249 9966, email sales@ga.gov.au
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KEY REFERENCES
AGSO, 2001—Line Drawings of AGSO – Geoscience Australia’s Regional Seismic Profiles, Offshore Northern and
Northwestern Australia. Australian Geological Survey Organisation Record 2001/36.
BENSON, J.M., BREALEY, S.J., LUXTON, C.W., WALSHE, P.F. AND TUPPER, N.P., 2004—Late Cretaceous ponded
turbidite systems: a new stratigraphic play fairway in the Browse Basin. The APPEA Journal, 44(1), 269–285.
BLEVIN, J.E., BOREHAM, C.J., SUMMONS, R.E., STRUCKMEYER, H.I.M. AND LOUTIT, T.S., 1998—An effective
Lower Cretaceous petroleum system on the North West Shelf: evidence from the Browse Basin. In: Purcell, P.G. and
Purcell, R.R. (eds), The Sedimentary Basins of Western Australia 2: Proceedings of the Petroleum Exploration Society of
Australia Symposium, Perth, 1998, 397–420.
BLEVIN, J.E., STRUCKMEYER, H.I.M., CATHRO, D.L., TOTTERDELL, J.M., BOREHAM, C.J., ROMINE, K.K., LOUTIT,
T.S. AND SAYERS, J., 1998—Tectonostratigraphic framework and petroleum systems of the Browse Basin, North West
Shelf. In: Purcell, P.G. and Purcell, R.R. (eds), The Sedimentary Basins of Western Australia 2: Proceedings of the
Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia Symposium, Perth, 1998, 369–395
BISHOP, A. M., KEEP, M. AND LONGLEY, I. 1999—Neogene structural history of the Barcoo Sub-basin, Browse Basin,
Western Australia. The APPEA Journal 39(1), 724.
ELLIS, G.K., BAILLIE, P.W. AND MUNDON, T.L. (editors), 2004—Timor Sea Petroleum Geoscience. Proceedings of the
Timor Sea Symposium, Darwin, Northern Territory, 19-20 June, 2003. Northern Territory Geological Survey, Special
Publication 1.
KEEP, M., BISHOP, A. AND LONGLEY, I., 2000—Neogene wrench reactivation of the Barcoo Sub-basin, Northwest
Australia; implications for Neogene tectonics of the northern Australian margin. Petroleum Geoscience 6, 211–220.
KENNARD, J.M., DEIGHTON, I., RYAN, D., EDWARDS, D.S. AND BOREHAM, C.J., 2004—Subsidence and thermal
history modelling: new insights into hydrocarbon expulsion from multiple petroleum systems in the Browse Basin. In:
Ellis, G.K., Baillie, P.W. and Munson, T.J. (eds), Timor Sea Petroleum Geoscience. Proceedings of the Timor Sea
Symposium, Darwin, Northern Territory, 19–20 June 2003. Northern Territory Geological Survey, Special Publication 1,
411–435.
KENYON, C.S., 2000—The petroleum systems and hydrocarbon potential of the deepwater outer Browse Basin,
Northwest Shelf, Australia. Annual Meeting Expanded Abstracts - American Association of Petroleum Geologists 2000,
77.
RADLINSKI, A.P., KENNARD, J.M., EDWARDS, D.S., HINDE, A.L. AND DAVENPORT, R., 2004—Hydrocarbon
generation and expulsion from Early Cretaceous source rocks in the Browse Basin, North West Shelf, Australia; a small
angle neutron scattering study. The APPEA Journal 44(1), 151–180.
STRUCKMEYER, H.I.M., BLEVIN, J.E., SAYERS, J., TOTTERDELL, J.M., BAXTER, K. AND CATHRO, D.L., 1998—
Structural evolution of the Browse Basin, North West Shelf; new concepts from deep-seismic data. In Purcell, P.G. and
Purcell, R.R. (eds), The Sedimentary Basins of Western Australia 2: Proceedings of a PESA Symposium, Perth, 1988,
345–367.
SYMONDS, P.A., COLLINS, C.D.N. AND BRADSHAW, J., 1994—Deep structure of the Browse Basin: Implications for
basin development and petroleum exploration. In: Purcell, P.G. and Purcell, R.R. (eds), The Sedimentary Basins of
Western Australia: Proceedings of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia Symposium, Perth, 1994, 315–331.
WOODFINE, R. G., ROBERTS, A., KUSZNIR, N., MATTHEWS, S., BELOPOLSKY, A. AND STOVER, C., 2006—2-D
basin modelling of three regional seismic profiles from Browse Basin, northwest Australia. American Association of
Petroleum Geologists International Conference Abstracts 2006.
WILLIS, I., 1988—Results of exploration, Browse Basin, North West Shelf, Western Australia. In: Purcell, P.G. and
Purcell, R.R. (eds), The North West Shelf, Australia: Proceedings of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia
Symposium, Perth, 1988, 259–272.
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