AUSTRALIA 2013
Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release
RELEASE AREA V13-1,
EASTERN OTWAY BASIN,
VICTORIA
HIGHLIGHTS
BIDS CLOSE – 21 November 2013
 Located within a gas producing region
 Access to existing infrastructure and
growing energy market
 Shallow to deep water depths, 70–1030 m
 Plays include faulted anticlines and tilted
fault blocks with cross-fault seal
 Multiple potential oil- and gas-prone source
rocks and active petroleum systems within
the region
 Special Notices apply, refer to Guidance
Notes
Figure 1 Location of the 2013 Release Areas in the
Eastern Otway basin
Release Area V13-1 is located partly within the highly prospective Shipwreck Trough and extends onto the Prawn
Platform in the eastern Otway Basin. The Release Area contains two exploration wells, Loch Ard 1 and Eric the Red 1.
The Otway Basin is a northwest-trending passive margin rift basin that was formed during Gondwanan break-up and the
Antarctic-Australian separation. Rift-related faulting resulted in the development of large, deep depocentres, including the
Voluta and Shipwreck troughs in the offshore part of the basin. The Shipwreck Trough is a structural depression between
the Mussel and Prawn platforms. Deposition throughout the Late Cretaceous was dominated by deltaic sedimentation of
the Sherbrook Group, which is >5000 m thick in the trough and contains most of the offshore gas discoveries. Two
potential petroleum systems occur in the depocentre to the west of the Release Area; the proven Lower Cretaceous
Austral 2 Petroleum System that is the source of the produced gas in the region, and the Upper Cretaceous Austral 3
Petroleum System with a potential Turonian oil-prone source rock.
AUSTRALIA 2013
Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release
1
Figure 2 Structural elements of the Otway Basin showing petroleum fields and discoveries, the location of regional
cross-sections and the 2013 Release Area
AUSTRALIA 2013
Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release
2
Figure 3 Stratigraphy and hydrocarbon discoveries of the Otway Basin based on the Otway Basin Biozonation and
Stratigraphy Chart 34 (Mantle et al, 2009). Geologic Time Scale after Gradstein et al (2012)
AUSTRALIA 2013
Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release
3
Figure 4 AGSO seismic line 137/05 across the easternmost Shipwreck Trough and Prawn Platform, Otway Basin.
Location of the line is shown in Figure 2. Modified after O’Brien et al, 2006
AUSTRALIA 2013
Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release
4
Figure 5 Regional cross section across the Otway Basin showing position of the present-day peak hydrocarbon
generation zone. Location of the line is shown in Figure 2. Modified after O’Brien et al, 2009
AUSTRALIA 2013
Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release
5
PETROLEUM SYSTEMS ELEMENTS
Eastern Otway Basin
Sources
 Aptian–Albian lower coastal plain and peat swamp Eumeralla Formation shale and coal (Austral 2)
 Upper Cretaceous–lowest Paleogene fluvio-deltaic Sherbrook Group (Turonian Waarre Formation and
Coniacian–Santonian Belfast Mudstone) and marginal marine basal Wangerrip Group (Austral 3
unproven offshore)
Reservoirs




Seals
Regional seal
Upper Cretaceous lower delta plain and marginal marine Waarre and Flaxman formations
Upper Cretaceous marine Thylacine Member, Belfast Mudstone
Upper Cretaceous deltaic Paaratte Formation
Paleocene shallow marine Pebble Point FormationChallis Formation and deltaic Nome Formation
 Upper Cretaceous Belfast Mudstone
Intraformational seals
 Uppermost Cretaceous/Paleocene Massacre Shale
 Paleocene–Eocene Pember Mudstone and Dilwyn Formation
 Eocene Mepunga Formation
Traps
 Faulted anticlines, tilted fault blocks with cross-fault seal
INFRASTRUCTURE AND MARKETS
The 2013 Release Area is proximal to the Geographe, Thylacine and La Bella gas fields. The eastern Otway Basin is an
established gas producing province that services the southeastern Australian energy market. The greater Melbourne
region currently represents Australia’s largest domestic gas market and is supported by major petroleum refineries. The
City of Portland is the nearest centre along the western Victorian coast and is known for the deep water port that was
established for aluminium smelting operations
CRITICAL RISKS
The key risk is migration distance and access to hydrocarbon charge from effective source kitchens within the Shipwreck
Trough. Fault-seal integrity is an issue on the Prawn Platform, particularly as local structuring occurred during the
Turonian. The presence of sufficiently thick intraformational and regional sealing lithologies over good quality reservoirs
is also uncertain.
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
AUSTRALIA 2013
Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release
6
GEOSCIENCE AUSTRALIA PRODUCTS
Regional Geology and Seismic

Geology and hydrocarbon prospectivity of the deepwater Otway and Sorell basins, offshore southeastern Australia.
Geoscience Australia Record 2013/02. GEOCAT 74603.

Time-Depth Functions for the Otway Basin. Geoscience Australia Record 2004/02. GEOCAT 49566

An Audit of Selected Offshore Petroleum Exploration Wells in the Otway Basin, Southeastern Australia. Geoscience
Australia Record 2003/21. GEOCAT 47377

Deep Structure of the Otway Basin, Southeastern Australia, Survey 137 (Phases 1 and 2): Post-cruise report.
Australian Geological Survey Organisation Record 1995/18. GEOCAT 14810

NGMA/PESA Otway Basin Symposium, Melbourne, 20 April 1994: Extended Abstracts. Australian Geological
Survey Organisation Record 1994/14. GEOCAT 14724

Otway Basin Cross-section, SA, Australian Geological Survey Organisation Record 1992/07. GEOCAT 14518

Otway Basin Seismic Data, 1992. GEOCAT 20759

Offshore Otway Basin Study, 1988. GEOCAT 20829

Extended abstracts: Otway Basin Workshop, Canberra, 17 March 1987, Bureau of Mineral Resources Record
1987/09. GEOCAT 14137
Stratigraphy

Otway Basin Biozonation and Stratigraphy Chart 9 – Otway Basin. GEOCAT 23350

Otway Basin Biozonation and Stratigraphy Chart 34 – Otway Basin. GEOCAT 70371

New and Revised Palynological Data for the Otway Basin, Geoscience Australia Record 2004/22. GEOCAT 61366

Otway Basin - Biostratigraphic Dataset, 2001. GEOCAT 37688
Petroleum Systems and Accumulations

The Oils of Eastern Australia, 2002. GEOCAT 68754

South-eastern Australia Surface Geochemistry II: Light Hydrocarbon Geochemistry in Bottom-waters of the
Gippsland Basin, Eastern Otway Basin, Torquay Sub-basin and the Durroon Sub-basin. Vols 1 and 2, Australian
Geological Survey Organisation Record 1992/54. GEOCAT 14562

Australian Petroleum Accumulations Report. Otway Basin, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania, 1990.
GEOCAT 37053

Preliminary Post-cruise Report: Hydrocarbon Gas Geochemistry in sediments of the offshore Otway and Gippsland
Basins: Project 9131.20
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
AUSTRALIA 2013
Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release
7
KEY REFERENCES

BOREHAM, C.J., HOPE, J.M., JACKSON, P., DAVENPORT, R., EARL, K.L., EDWARDS, D.S., LOGAN, G.A. AND
KRASSAY, A.A., 2004—Gas–oil–source correlations in the Otway Basin, southern Australia. In: Boult, P.J., Johns,
D.R. and Lang, S.C. (eds), Eastern Australasian Basins Symposium II, Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia,
Special Publication, 603–627.

CLIFF, D.C.B., TYE, S.C. AND TAYLOR, R., 2004—The Thylacine and Geographe gas discoveries, offshore
eastern Otway Basin. The APPEA Journal 44(1), 441–462.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VICTORIA, 1995—The stratigraphy, structure, geophysics and hydrocarbon potential
of the Eastern Otway Basin. Geological Survey of Victoria, Report 103, 241 pp.

GIBSON, G.M., MORSE, M.P., IRELAND, T.R. AND NAYAK, G.K., 2011—Arc-continent collision and orogenesis in
western Tasmanides: Insights from reactivated basement structures and formation of an ocean-continent transform
boundary off western Tasmania. Gondwana Research, 19, 608–627.

GRADSTEIN, F.M., OGG, J.G. SCHMITZ, M.D. AND OGG, G.M. (eds), 2012—The Geologic Time Scale 2012:
Volumes 1 and 2. Elsevier BV, 1144 pp.

HALL, M. and KEATLEY, J. 2009—Otway Basin, stratigraphic and tectonic framework. GeoScience Victoria 3D
Victoria Report 2, Department of Primary Industries.

KRASSAY, A.A., CATHRO, D.L. AND RYAN, D.J., 2004—A regional tectonostratigraphic framework for the Otway
Basin. In: Boult, P.J., Johns, D.R. and Lang, S.C. (eds), Eastern Australasian Basins Symposium II, Petroleum
Exploration Society of Australia, Special Publication, 97–116.

LUXTON, C.W., HORAN, S.T., PICKAVANCE, D.L. AND DURHAM, M.S., 1995—The La Bella and Minerva gas
discoveries, offshore Otway Basin. The APEA Journal, 35, 405–417.

MANTLE, D.J., BERNECKER, T., KELMAN, A.P. AND PARTRIDGE, A.D., 2009—Otway Basin, Biozonation and
Stratigraphy, 2009, Chart 34. Geoscience Australia.

O’BRIEN, G.W., BERNECKER, T., THOMAS, J.H., DRISCOLL, J.P. AND RIKUS, L., 2006—An assessment of the
hydrocarbon prospectivity of Areas VIC/O-06(1), VIC/O-06(2), VIC/O-06(3) and V06-1, eastern onshore and offshore
Otway Basin, Victoria, Australia. Victorian Initiative for Minerals and Petroleum Report 90, Department of Primary
Industries.

O’BRIEN, G.W., BOREHAM, C.J., THOMAS, H.J. AND TINGATE, P.R., 2009—Understanding the critical success
factors determining prospectivity—Otway Basin, Victoria. The APPEA Journal, 49(1), 129–170.

PARTRIDGE, A.D., 2001—Revised stratigraphy of the Sherbrook Group, Otway Basin. In: Hill, K.C. and Bernecker,
T. (eds), Eastern Australian Basins Symposium, A Refocused Energy Perspective for the Future, Petroleum
Exploration Society of Australia, Special Publication, 455–464.
AUSTRALIA 2013
Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release
8