ARRC Annual Report 2004/2005

Australian Resources Research Centre

ARRC 2004-05 Annual Report table of contents

FOREWORD ...... Alan Carpenter EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...... David Agostini RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS ......

MINERALS AND PETROLEUM EXPLORATION ...... Computational Geoscience for Predictive Discovery Exploration Through Cover Discovery Technologies Petroleum Geochemistry

PETROLEUM RESERVOIR DEFINITION AND PERFORMANCE ...... Reservoir Characterisation Geophysics

DRILLING AND WELL PERFORMANCE ...... Drilling Production Platform-free Fields

GAS AND ENVIRONMENT ......

CO2 Sequestration Gas Processing MAJOR COLLABORATIVE VENTURES ......

INDUSTRY CLIENTS......

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION ......

FINANCIAL REPORT ......

ARRC ADVISORY COMMITTEE ......

MINISTER’Stableminister’s of contents foreword FOREWORD

The Perth-based Australian Resources Research Centre (ARRC) continues to make signiﬁcant contributions to Western Australia’s technological capabilities in the booming mineral and petroleum sectors.

The WA home to CSIRO Petroleum Resources and CSIRO Exploration and Mining, also houses four Co-operative Research Centres - Predictive Mineral Discovery, Greenhouse Gas Technologies, Landscape Environments and Mineral Exploration and the Centre for Sustainable Resource Processing.

With its other occupants, including Curtin University of Technology departments and the Interactive Virtual Environments Centre (iVEC), ARRC is well placed to continue to facilitate and enhance collaborative research in the Western Australian resources sector.

The Western Australian Energy Research Alliance (WAERA), an initiative of ARRC, was formed in 2003 between Curtin University of Technology, The University of Western Australia and CSIRO and has further built upon the research expertise oﬀered at the Centre.

Woodside Energy, an initial industry sponsor to WAERA, has contributed to signiﬁcant growth in ARRC’s international oil and gas research and development. This research was further enhanced in April 2005 when a new research alliance, the Western Australian Alliance for Advanced Energy Solutions, was announced between Chevron and WAERA.

This latest alliance will undertake petroleum industry research, technology development, education and training projects. It will provide for the development of multiple research projects with an investment target by Chevron of up to $5 million per year. Such collaboration and cooperation is strongly supported by the Western Australian Government.

Involvement with external research groups in 2004-05 saw the production and publication of state-of-the-art mineral maps. These studies are crucial to the resources sector, having the potential to target new areas for exploration.

I look forward to the continued success of ARRC and congratulate its staﬀ on another year of dedication to making Western Australia an international hub of mineral and petroleum research excellence.

Alan Carpenter MLA Minister for State Development EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The research being carried out at ARRC continues to address the technical challenges faced by the mining and energy sectors in Western Australia. This Centre was created to establish a knowledge node capable of attracting research capability that would add value to the State’s substantial resources.

The work at ARRC spans a considerable number of technical disciplines, all of which are important to the future of the mining and petroleum sectors in this State. In this report the lead researchers summarise the projects they and their colleagues are pursuing. Success in these has the potential to provide to the resource industries in Western Australia a competitive advantage which will ensure their longer term viability.

The State’s mining sector faces strong international competitive pressure and depends heavily on its leading edge technology to meet the challenge. Remaining ahead of the pack requires continuous technological improvement in identifying, recovering and processing minerals. Maintaining this leading position is possible only through the kind of work carried out here at ARRC.

A similar challenge faces the petroleum sector. Resource prospectivity is not ranked as highly as some other places in the world, particularly where oil is concerned. Those reserves identiﬁed to date have most often been gas, and this has mainly been at remote sites. Overcoming the development hurdles of this ‘stranded gas’ is important to WA in addressing its energy supply security. Greater success at bringing those resources to the surface will also assist in reducing the national balance of payments burden.

Much of the ARRC research in the petroleum sector addresses those challenges and contributes to maximising the value of the State’s

reserves. In addition, some of the work currently underway focuses on environmental issues, including CO2 emissions.

The ARRC initiative to form WAERA, together with its University partners, has helped to attract further government support. It has also boosted the capability of researchers attracting greater patronage from the petroleum industry, which is of particular importance to this State. This is likely to have ongoing long term beneﬁts for ARRC, and its partners, as the Centre achieves critical mass and further develops its reputation for quality research.

The investment in ARRC by both the State and CSIRO has created an institution which has already contributed to the performance of the resource sector. ARRC is well positioned to build on this and to continue to add value to the considerable mineral and energy endowment of this State by contributing to its technological leadership position.

David Agostini Chairman, Advisory Committee. research highlights

MINERALS AND PETROLEUM EXPLORATION Yilgarn Laterite Geochemistry Atlas Many parts of Australia lack the materials (such as stream Computational Geoscience for Predictive Discovery sediments) used for large scale geochemical mapping. CSIRO in collaboration with Geological Survey of Western Australia has SEEGrid begun trialing the utility of iron-rich laterite for geochemical Researchers completed an AusIndustry funded demonstrator mapping of the western Yilgarn Craton, to indicate new areas project for the Solid Earth and Environmental Sciences for exploration and to identify potential environmental issues. (SEE) Grid architecture in 2004-05. SEEGrid is a computer During 2004-05, field sampling was completed in the southwest platform enabling geoscience knowledge and data from all state quadrant of the Yilgarn Craton. Some 2,000 samples were selected jurisdictions, including from State Geological Surveys and for analysis from field and existing collections. Preliminary Geoscience Australia, to be seamlessly available to the whole of results were presented at the September 2005 meeting of the the country. It enables people to have live access and to be able to International Geochemical Exploration Society. The digital dataset query the data from any jurisdiction – an Australian first in the for the South West Quadrant and some interpretative maps were delivery of data in the geoscience knowledge domain. SEEGrid published in 2005. is part of the national Australian Partnership for Advanced Salinity Mapping Computing Grid program which is building a national grid infrastructure to give Australian researchers seamless access to In this half-way year (2004-05) of its second term, CRC LEME computational and data resources. researchers have developed new geophysical technologies to model the dynamics of saline groundwater flow to assist salinity mitigation in New Reactive Transport Tool the Riverland area of the Murray River in South Australia. Water- Substantial progress was made in the development of a reactive borne and heli-borne electromagnetic systems have been developed to transport (chemical modelling) tool in 2004-05 to facilitate the pinpoint saline groundwater discharges into the Murray River. They prediction of alteration and mineralisation in time and space. have helped to identify preferred areas for irrigation on riverine plains This tool is able to run stably, on quite complex problems, over to minimise those discharges. geological time periods in complex meshes. Thus, a sample Integrated geoscientific approaches have also enabled the construction problem with 60 minerals and soluble species on an irregular of three-dimensional groundwater flow models in the Lower Balonne mesh, consisting of 4000 mesh elements, has been run for a model River in the headward region of the Murray Darling Basin. time of one million years, overnight. Spectroscopic Techniques to Determine the Mineralogical Exploration Through Cover Structure of Gold Nuggets New research in 2004-05 BiotaE: Bio-geochemistry to Target Plants to ‘see through’ Cover on gold, occurring as large CSIRO researchers, through the Co-operative Research Centre masses (nuggets), is revealing for Landscape Environments and Mineral Exploration (CRC their internal structure in a LEME), have found that analysis of the roots, bark and twigs of way not realised by most in the Mulga tree gives clear and reproducible chemical signatures of the geological sciences. With gold and base-metal deposits - especially under cemented hardpan. the invaluable assistance of, This breakthrough research stems from work over several Western and collaboration with WA Australian base-metal and gold deposits, covered by more than 20 prospector Mark Creasy, metres of transported regolith. This major research advance, with CSIRO has been able to the registered name ‘BiotaE’, can detect buried mineralisation cut gold nuggets in half and where no other soil or partial digest geochemical methods will prepare sections. Careful work. Other results show that remobilised gold, possibly related polishing has shown the to plant activity, is present in carbonate phases of 27,000 year old internal structure consists of sand dunes on the Gawler Craton. These new results in 2004-05 many individual crystals, able show that biotic processes play an important role in bringing to be viewed and measured metals to the surface in areas with an arid climate and a deep by electron microscopy. water table. These results have important Gold nugget crystalline structure (top) and implications for the origin of Creasey gold nugget (above). the gold nuggets on Australia’s surface, and will therefore have an effect on exploration strategies. research highlights

Discovery Technologies The C-Vista Joint Venture This is a two year joint venture whereby CSIRO and HyVista Next Generation Maps investigate the potential for an end to end hyperspectral image Accurately measuring the mineralogy of the Earth’s surface, acquisition and processing business in the exploration, mining and using remote spectral technologies, can complement environment sectors. A decision will be made by mid-2006 on conventional mapping methods for better mapping the geology whether the market justifies continuing this project by means of a and superimposed regolith, also delivering a new range of formal joint venture or a spin off company. metamorphic and metasomatic maps. These will empower geologists to more effectively explore in terms of mineralogy and Petroleum Geochemistry will add to their current use of conventional data sets, such as geochemistry, geophysics, aerial photography and Landsat Total Scanning Fluorescence Technique satellite imagery. As part of on-going research into oil migration and accumulation in sedimentary basins, CSIRO has written new data acquisition During 2004-05, a year-long collaborative research project was software for investigating the changing attributes of inclusion oil established to evaluate whether airborne and satellite spectral during the filling of oil reservoirs. During 2004-05 significant data could be processed to deliver mineralogical products of value progress was made with the first-time recording of data. This in mapping the regolith and hydrothermal systems for a 1:100 new software is now being used to provide data to oil exploration 000 scale special map sheet centred over Kalgoorlie-Boulder. The companies about the fill history of their oil reservoirs. In the project has delivered 23 mineral maps in GIS compatible format. investigation of oil fields from the Timor Sea, Cooper Basin and These are now available through the Geological Survey of Western China, the Total Scanning Fluorescence technique was shown to Australia. The mineral abundance maps include be useful to fingerprint inclusion oil families, and to evaluate top regolith-related and alteration minerals, providing a new, remotely seal and reservoir compartmentalisation in oil fields. sensed pre-competitive dataset to aid mineral exploration. Better Measuring of ‘Old’ Oil CSIRO scientists, in collaboration with colleagues from the China University of Petroleum, have developed a new method for estimating the column heights of palaeo oil, or ‘old’ residual oil, by analysing fewer samples within a petroleum well than through previous methods. In petroleum exploration, quite often an exploration well may not encounter ‘live’ oil, and is called a ‘dry well’. However, by analysing the reservoir rocks, using microscopic, spectroscopic and geochemical methods, evidence of palaeo oil that once filled the reservoir rocks, can be detected. By quantifying the height of the palaeo oil columns, it is possible to predict the volume of oil lost and to get some indication of the proximity of potential ‘live’ oil. research highlights

Hydrocarbon Sensors Oil and Gas Fields Workflow During 2004-05, a new collaborative research project was In collaboration with BHPBilliton Petroleum and other instigated between CSIRO and the Nanochemistry Research organisations during 2004-05, CSIRO developed a workflow Institute at Curtin University of Technology. Scholarships were to appraise oil and gas fields. This requires the integration provided for two Curtin PhD students to conduct research in of uncertain subsurface information into multiple reservoir nano-sensor design. The ultimate aim of this ambitious research simulation models. The information includes seismic data, various is to develop hydrocarbon sensors to detect surface seeps from types of well data, and geologic concepts. The workflow has been petroleum reservoirs in surface exploration. applied to the Stybarrow Field in the Carnarvon Basin.

Quantitative Grain Flourescence Rock Flow Properties CSIRO started collaborative research with China University During 2004-05, the ARRC Petrophysics Laboratory developed of Petroleum (CUP) on licensing and the hydrocarbon charge a range of non-destructive techniques to investigate the history investigation of the Jiyang Sub-basin, East China. microstructures, physical and flow properties of rocks from in This will provide the Chinese petroleum industry with an and around hydrocarbon reservoirs. The laboratory provides rock innovative technology that is exclusive to CSIRO in investigating property characterisation services for a wide range of ARRC hydrocarbon charge and migration in petroleum exploration. This research projects, plus accurate petrophysical measurements for technology will help reduce risks when planning new exploration industrial customers. wells. CUP will pay a collaborative research licensing fee to CSIRO and promote the CSIRO technology to Chinese Active research areas range from Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, oil companies. which gives rapid information on pore structure, connectivity and fluid mobility, though electrical and dielectric spectroscopies, to PETROLEUM RESERVOIR DEFINITION AND x-ray computed tomography. PERFORMANCE Geophysics Reservoir Characterisation Pore Pressure Prediction Aquifer Pressure Study The rock physics research activity built on the research on completion of The Wealth from Oceans National Research Flagship regional the Australian Petroleum Co-operative Research Centre (APCRC) pore Latrobe Aquifer pressure study, in Victoria’s Gippsland Basin, pressure research. This received unequivocal endorsement from Chevron has established that the production-induced pressure decline in research managers as part of Chevron due diligence for research offshore reservoirs has a geographically variable impact on falling engagement under WAERA. This report referred to critical mass, onshore water levels, and risks of land subsidence. The implications international leadership and the ability to define and carry through are that the conjunctive use of on and offshore water resources, research initiatives. requires an integrated management system. Efforts are continuing The research developed and completed through the pore pressure to assess the risk of land subsidence under different reservoir program was reviewed in a comprehensive paper for the Journal of management scenarios. Petroleum Science & Engineering as part of a special issue on Australian research. research highlights

Electromagnetic Technology absorbs about a third of production costs over the life of a field, A workshop, bringing together CSIRO, industry and international and the availability of this sea-bed technology would bring up to a collaborators’ research interests in electromagnetic technology 75 percent reduction in capital investment for the development of applied to the petroleum industry, has resulted in a developing an offshore gas field. engagement with industry (Woodside and Hardman Resources) in understanding the applications and research issues. This Integrated Wellbore Instability Software research, under the Wealth from Oceans National Research CSIRO has developed state-of-the-art software that can be Flagship, has engaged collaboration with the Institute of Acoustics used for the evaluation of wellbore instability and drilling fluid Chinese Academy of Science. It is also engaging with Scripps design by integrating a range of independently-developed, Oceanographic Institute through linkages with the development stand-alone software packages. This new integrated software by CSIRO, of gradient magnetometry patents and developing is aimed at providing drilling engineers, who may have limited links with the US Naval Research Laboratories and Geological specialist knowledge in the areas of geomechanics and drilling and Nuclear Sciences of New Zealand, on hydrates research. fluid design, with a tool to address potentially costly wellbore Further alliances and collaborations in this area are with Heriot instability problems encountered during drilling oil and gas Watt University Edinburgh. wells. The Driller’s Wellbore Stability Tool has been applied to solve a number of wellbore instability problems, of high angle DRILLING AND WELL PERFORMANCE and extended reach wells, in both local and overseas fields. It has also provided input data for modelling wellbore instability Platform-free Fields during production. During the 2004-05 year alone, the tool CSIRO scientists are working to develop radical technologies to was used to assist major international companies in solving the extract remote offshore oil and gas without the use of traditional wellbore instability problems in four fields in Malaysia, India and production platforms. During 2004-05, these new sea-bed based Turkmenistan. technologies, which could deliver transformational benefits to Australia’s oil and gas industry, were explored. If the processing of hydrocarbons and other associated fluids could be made totally subsea and down-hole, then platforms and surface facilities could become structures of the past. The cost of the platforms currently RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

GAS AND ENVIRONMENT CSIRO has a strong interest in distinguishing anthropogenic and

Vegetable Dieletic Fluid natural sources of CO2 from stored CO2, through soil, water-well During 2004-05, in an environmental breakthrough that could and atmospheric measurement technologies. save millions of dollars, a CSIRO-led research team finalised the development of a vegetable oil based fluid for use in power and This research is expressed through interaction with the planned electricity distribution transformers. The new dielectic fluid, that pilot project in the Otway Basin and participation in international could replace the estimated 40 billion litres of toxic mineral oil pilot projects, such as the Texas Bureau of Economic Geology which is currently used in transformers across the world, is now Frio Brine CO2 injection project. Our expertise was called on in a being patented. Using it would improve the safety of power and recent review of the scientific outcomes of the Weyburn Enhanced distribution transformers, the occupational health and safety of Oil Recovery (EOR) project in Saskatchewan, Canada. power workers and protect habitats around electricity facilities. Gas Processing

CO2 Sequestration New Catalytic Gas Turbine During 2004-05, CSIRO continued CO2 sequestration research CSIRO research into natural gas processing during 2004-05 within the CO2CRC. This research is critically important to has led to the development and patenting of a new catalytic gas Australia to provide a safe and verifiable means of removing CO2 from fixed sources and verify safe storage to reduce the effects turbine for the partial oxidation of natural gas to syngas (synthesis of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Monitoring technology gas – a mixture of CO and H2). This involves placing the catalyst provides the means to ensure that the storage meets regulatory and on the blades of a turbine. This new gas turbine uses the energy risk assessment criteria of potential geological storage reservoirs. from the reaction, as well as simultaneously processing the gas. The research will demonstrate that such storage can be undertaken This novel system improves the economic performance of gas safely, and can be measured to the satisfaction of key stakeholders, processing, through the concurrent generation of electricity. Being government and the public. able to condense plant equipment, by using new syngas production techniques, will enable exploitation of what are now considered to be non-commercial gas fields. The CO2CRC research involves issues associated with measuring 3D and seismic time lapse imaging of the CO plume and 2 Improved Water Gas Shift Catalyst its migration. It requires the calibration, with laboratory The research team has also developed an improved high determination, of in-situ geophysical properties of CO2 in porous temperature water gas shift catalyst, based on promoting an media. Predictive modelling of the behaviour of CO2 under various scenarios, and the influence of residual gas on these properties, is iron-chromium oxide system. The water gas shift reaction is also being developed. It is also important to identify and develop widely used in industry to adjust the hydrogen yield from natural geochemical and hydrodynamic sampling, to verify the integrity of gas and coal conversion. The new catalyst is significantly more efficient, decreasing the volume of catalyst required for industrial seals to ensure the injected CO2 has not leaked from its container. processing. major collaborative ventures

The West Australian Energy Research Alliance Co-operative Research Centre for Greenhouse

Gas Technologies (CO2CRC) WAERA is a Perth-based unincorporated joint venture between

CSIRO Petroleum Resources, Curtin University of Technology The CO2CRC researches the logistical, technical, ﬁnancial and and The University of Western Australia. It provides a vehicle environmental issues of storing industrial carbon dioxide emissions for collaborative engagement in oil and gas research. In April in deep geological formations. The CRC also researches the capture 2005, Chevron signed a strategic research agreement with and separation of carbon dioxide from industrial systems. WAERA, joining Woodside, who are 18 months into a ﬁve year Developed from the original Australian Petroleum CRC (APCRC),

strategic alliance. Both alliances are underpinned by a $20 million the CO2CRC is directly contributing to the Government’s Major Research Facilities grant from the Western Australian objective of decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and maintaining Government. WAERA provides a mechanism for the delivery Australia’s economic growth. Areas of research expertise include of high-quality integrated research solutions to the oil and gas petroleum geology and geophysics, organic geochemistry and industry combining the complementary skills and expertise of petrography, isotope and chemical stratigraphy, basin analysis, CSIRO and the university sector. The Alliance is developing into a reservoir characterisation and simulation, numerical modelling, hub of an internationally competitive oil and gas knowledge cluster. reservoir physics, rock mechanics, drilling and wellbore engineering, evaluation and stimulation of low-permeability reservoirs. iVEC The SEEGrid Information Community The Interactive Virtual Environments Centre (iVEC) is a joint venture between Central TAFE, CSIRO, Curtin University of This effort (see Research Highlights) involves all of the Technology, Murdoch University and The University of Western Government Geological Surveys in Australia, the British Australia. 2004-05 has been an exciting year, with the Western Geological Survey, the International Union of Geosciences and Australian Government announcing they will provide $3.1 million many other supporters. over three years for the next phase of iVEC. Murdoch University Co-operative Research Centre for Landscape joined the venture and the first year focus was the acquisition Environments and Mineral Exploration and installation of High Performance Computing (HPC) and networking hardware. The iVEC network was expanded to link researchers at all member sites, including Murdoch and Curtin. CRC LEME is a joint venture between eight government, Most significantly, $3.7 million was raised for two new cutting- university and industry participants, including CSIRO edge HPC facilities, able to deliver a combined capacity of two Exploration and Mining and CSIRO Land and Water divisions. teraflops, an increase of almost two orders of magnitude on the During the past year, substantial progress has been achieved original iVEC facility (Carlin). During the year, iVEC used across all the CRC’s programs. A notable feature this year was the the West Australian Government’s investment to leverage an expansion of commercial projects into Western Australia in both additional $10.6 million in funding for the centre, helping iVEC the programs of Salinity Mapping and Hazard Assessment, and become one of Australia’s leading advanced computing centres. Environmental Applications of Regolith Geoscience. major collaborative ventures

John de Laeter Centre for Mass Spectrometry petroleum corporation with business interests in more than 30 countries. The Corporation, which is an emerging global player in In May 2005, it was announced that the John de Laeter Centre the oil and gas industry, is engaged in a full spectrum of petroleum for Mass Spectrometry would receive $2.06 million over ﬁve years activities, and is ranked among the 500 largest companies in the from the Western Australian Government’s Centres of Excellence world. PRSS, wholly-owned by PETRONAS, is a fully-ﬂedged in Science and Innovation Program. The funding stemmed from a business-driven research and development centre that serves the consortium bid involving CSIRO, Curtin University of Technology needs of the PETRONAS Group and other petroleum-related and The University of Western Australia. The Centre provides the companies, both domestic and international. The new arrangement partners with an opportunity to access more than $14 million in allows CSIRO and PETRONAS to continue the exploitation of existing equipment and $12 million in planned high-value items of their combined strengths in petroleum exploration and production, capital equipment, increasing Western Australia’s capability to be alternative energies and advanced materials technologies. CSIRO internationally competitive in isotope geochemistry. Petroleum Resources is already the technological partner of PRSS in petroleum geomechanics, particularly in the areas of wellbore Integrated Predictive Evaluation of Traps and Seals stability and sand production. (The IPETS Consortium) TNO – NITG

IPETS is a research consortium involving CSIRO, The University of Adelaide and The University of South Australia. It aims to CSIRO has teamed up with the Netherlands’ national research develop predictive relationships between intact and breached agency TNO, and five major energy companies (Clyde Petroleum hydrocarbon column distributions, leakage indicators, structural Exploratie B.V, Total FINA ELF, Gaz de France, Winterhall and geometry evolution, fault geometries and rock properties through NAM) to use the PressureQC™ quality control methodology integrating regional and field/prospect scale seismic datasets, — a technology developed by CSIRO Petroleum’s Geofluid modelling and laboratory investigations. The IPETS Consortium Dynamics Group. The technology works to reduce exploration started in 2005 and will run for four years. It is sponsored by and production risks and to evaluate the viability of developing Woodside, Department of Primary Industries and Resources of newly discovered oil and gas fields. This method is currently used South Australia, Schlumberger, Kerr-McGee, Origin Energy and by the Australian petroleum industry in the North West Shelf. The Santos. collaborative venture is developing what will be the first integrated quality-controlled pressure and hydrodynamics database for the North Sea by collating data, collected over the past 40 years, from PETRONAS Research & Scientific Services about 500 wells in the Southern North Sea Basin. This will enable the exploration industry to interpret the petroleum system to Alternative energy and clean fuel technologies are part of the better predict the location and size of new resources. expanded focus of a second five-year collaborative research arrangement between CSIRO and PETRONAS Research and Scientific Services Sdn Bhd (PRSS), a research and development unit of PETRONAS. PETRONAS is Malaysia’s national major collaborative ventures

to site geologists, to raise awareness, and to help advance their own Embedded Researcher Program knowledge in the science of exploration, and it provides a source for exploration enthusiasm. And, with the embedded researcher on site, it During 2004-05, the Embedded Researcher Program was invigorates the discovery business and satisfies senior management that expanded so that three young researchers were based at operating yes, we are doing everything we can in the most effective way possible gold mines in the Eastern Goldfields; Wallaby, Kanowna Belle and to ensure the long-term profitability of St Ives.” St Ives. These on-site researchers are supervised by scientists from - Dr Bob Morrison, Gold Fields Ltd (from Australia’s Mining CSIRO and The University of Western Australia, and liaise with Monthly, April 2005). companies across the activities of the exploration cycle, including core logging, exploration field geology and target generation. Turbidite Research Initiative Supported by MERIWA and the Predictive Mineral Discovery Co-operative Research Centre, their research aims to enhance TURI is a three year multi-disciplinary research program to exploration for gold deposits through understanding the interplay investigate the fluid flow behaviour of faulted deep water turbidite of fluids with the architecture at the time of gold mineralisation. reservoirs. This is based on the analysis and in-situ testing of a The strategy has proven to be one of the best methods of world-class turbidite reservoir analogue exposed at Taranaki, technology transfer and improving the interaction between New Zealand. Deep water turbidite reservoirs, that host giant oil industry and The University of Western Australia and CSIRO and gas fields, have become increasingly important to both the research scientists. The Program has supported the trialing of the global and Australian oil industries with technological advances CSIRO Hylogger technology in the Eastern Goldfields through opening deep water environments to exploration and production. 2004-05. Negotiations are currently on foot for the project to be funded by industry. “It’s one of the best initiatives I’ve ever seen in the industry, and we are pitching it throughout Placer Dome globally because we see the benefits Via TURI, CSIRO - along with collaborators Curtin University of within months of a project starting. Technology, The University of Western Australia and IGNS, NZ - is positioning itself as a technological leader in the characterisation We all spend money on research, but in the past we rarely got to of these complex reservoirs. The aim is to increase the pragmatically use it on the ground and we never seem to capture the predictability of their fluid flow behaviour, thereby providing the learning. With the embedded researchers on our team, we have a person constraints for enhanced recovery strategies, leading to increasing on-site who can bring academic research to us and translate it for the recovery factors which, if only a few percent, could translate to field staff, and we have the chance to direct research programs towards billion dollar returns. answering real questions.

For us, it’s one of the most cost eﬀective forms of research that Placer Dome is undertaking, It’s putting us ahead of normal practice….” – Kas De Luca, Placer Dome Asia Paciﬁc Ltd ( from Australia’s Mining Monthly, April 2005).

“The geochemical and structural knowledge generated will be immediately integrated into exploration projects. Roache sees partnerships with members of the exploration team as the best way of ensuring the research results are applied in the exploration program. It’s like a circular approach: research-exploration-research until we ﬁnd economic mineralisation.” – Dr Tony Roache, Placer Dome Asia Paciﬁc Ltd (from Australia’s Mining Monthly, April 2005).

“The embedded researcher provides direct evidence that the research is out of the ‘ivory towers’: It’s on-site, it’s pragmatic, practical, focused, responsible and realistic. It also provides direct research opportunities Faulted turbidites (top) and The Sisters and Mt Taranaki (above). Industry Clients

Adelaide Resources Alkane Resources Anglo American Exploration (Aust) Barrick Gold BHP Billiton Cameco Australia Chevron ENI Australia GeoInformatics Geoscience Australia GoldFields Hamersley Iron (now Pilbara Iron) Helix Resources Inco Technical Services Jabiru Metals (formerly Pilbara Mines) Johnson Matthey Leviathan Resources LionOre Australia Metex Resources NL Minara Resources Multiplex Murphy Oil Newmont Australia Oil Search PETRONAS PETROBRAS Placer Dome Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Research Institute of Petroleum Iran ROC Oil Santos Saskatchewan Research Council WMC Resources Woodside awards and recognition

CSIRO 2004 Research Achievement Medal “Nearly all the world’s major companies exploring for oil in the region now use the fluid history analysis technique, developed by CSIRO, in CSIRO Petroleum’s Reservoir Characterisation team won exploration and field appraisal and development.” - Mr Peter Baillie, Chief Geologist Asia Pacific, TGS-NOPEC this medal for developing and applying new methods to assess Geophysical Company in Perth and formerly Manager, reservoirs in deep sedimentary formations. They have developed Petroleum Exploration and Production, Western Australian new ways to find oil and gas deposits by combining geophysics, Department of Minerals and Energy. geostatistics and reservoir engineering. The Team has developed computer programs that combine information from holes and seismic surveys with what is known about the properties of “CSIRO’s Fluid History Analysis (FHA), and particularly the different rock types. The result is a computer model that accurately measurement of Grains containing Oil Inclusions (GOI) in sandstone predicts where oil and gas deposits will be found. samples from petroleum exploration wells, has provided a vital contribution to understanding fluid flow, reservoir diagenesis and CSIRO 2005 Research Achievement Medal hydrocarbon entrapment history, leading to a significantly better understanding of hydrocarbon prospectivity of a sedimentary basin.” CSIRO Petroleum’s Fluid History Analysis (FHA) team won this - Mr Grant Ellis, Senior Geologist, ENI Australia Limited. medal for the development of an innovative suite of techniques that reveal the stepwise fill history of petroleum reservoirs in “Santos are using GOI technology in investigations of the Mutineer previously unseen detail, positioning CSIRO as the world-leader and Exeter oil fields, to determine detailed time aspects in the fill in the application of fluid inclusion-based methods for reducing history of the reservoirs and to understand fluid continuity as part of risk when oil companies drill exploration wells. production planning for the fields.” - Mr Glenn Scotford, Senior Staff Geologist, Santos Limited. The techniques use samples of oil preserved within mineral grains that are retained when the reservoir fluid changes to gas or water, The 2005 Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) and are not visible at the well site. They are investigated in the Green Chemistry Challenge Award laboratory using microscopy, spectroscopy and geochemistry. The work has enormous significance to the oil and gas industry because CSIRO and Halliburton Energy Services’ Baroid Drilling Fluids the techniques add value to the large data sets used to select drill won this award for the development of low-cost environmentally- targets by providing information about oil migration and the friendly, water-based drilling fluids (green muds) for the stepwise filling of reservoirs. petroleum industry. The BarOmega™ Drilling Fluid System helps alleviate a major industry problem related to the collapse of oil wells during drilling. These new water-based muds are designed to reduce drilling costs, improve performance and operate within increasingly strict environmental limits. They perform as well as traditional oil and synthetic-based fluids when drilling difficult oil wells. The 2004 Golden Gekko Award for Environmental Excellence SGIO WA Environment Award 2004 2004 CSIRO Exploration and Mining Divisional Award for Innovation

CSIRO’s Exploration and Mining’s Spectral Sensing Team, in collaboration with BHPBilliton (BHPB,) won these awards for developing a new method of monitoring dust in the mining industry, using hyperspectral remote sensing technology. The collaborative research project stemmed from BHPB’s need to manage dust from its iron ore facilities impacting on the Port Hedland community and mangroves in the harbour. This application of the airborne technology, which measures light reﬂected from the Earth’s surface, was a world-ﬁrst. This technology’s ability to detect the amount of dust on vegetation AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

led to the development of a computerised dust monitoring system Alex Bevan at the Western Australian Museum - into the impact which, combined with BHPB’s other dust management activities, origin of the newly-discovered Woodleigh impact structure. The has demonstrated a fall in ambient dust levels, despite an increase research identiﬁed small black glass beads, found in exploration in the amount of iron ore being handled through Port Hedland. drift samples, as being the ﬁrst ‘Cosmic Spherules’ from Australia. These are small fragments of rock from space that have melted, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological then cooled rapidly as they passed through the Earth’s atmosphere. Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) Dr Hough is now applying his expertise to problems in gold exploration. In November 2004, Dr Charles Butt was elected as a Fellow of the ATSE, which consists of some 700 of Australia’s most eminent Curtin University of Technology Krishna and Pamela applied scientists and engineers. Dr Butt is the Chief Research Sappal Prize 2004 Scientist (Exploration) for CSIRO Exploration and Mining. He is a recognised world-leading geochemist whose research has led CRC LEME Scholarship student Annamalai Mahizhnan was to breakthroughs in mineral exploration in regolith-dominated awarded this prize for the best higher degree research graduate terrains. in geoscience. Annamalai was supervised by Dr Ravi Anand and his PhD thesis was ‘Red brown hardpan distribution, origin and Chinese University Appointment exploration implications for gold in the Yilgarn Craton of WA.’

In recognition of his leading petroleum geoscience research, Enterprise Development Institute of Australia CSIRO Petroleum Senior Research Scientist, Dr Keyu Liu, has Enterprise Workshop Program been appointed as an Adjunct Professor of the China University of Petroleum (CUP). A team from CSIRO Exploration and Mining won the 2004 national ﬁnals of the Enterprise Development Institute of The appointment will involve him in the joint supervision of Australia Enterprise Workshop Program. This team demonstrated CUP PhD students and in collaborative research projects. It the commercial viability of Sirovision - a new high-precision 3D will promote bilateral research and academic exchange between digital imaging technology for the mining industry. Sirovision has CSIRO Petroleum and CUP. applications world-wide as a rock mass structure mapping and analysis system for open cut mines that delivers an unprecedented Premier’s 2004 Prize for Early Career Achievement level of surface detail in models generated from digital in Science photographs taken from up to one kilometre from the surface to be studied. It is already in use by ﬁve of the world’s top 10 ARRC researcher Dr Robert Hough - an early career researcher mining companies. The software also has applications in the civil and post-doctoral research fellow with CSIRO Exploration and construction and tunnelling industries. Mining – is an expert on meteorite impact craters and their unique minerologies. He won this prize for research — together with Dr financial report

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ARRC Advisory Committee

By providing focus and direction for ARRC’s activities, the ARRC Advisory Committee – comprising representatives from research institutions, government agencies and industry – ensures that maximum beneﬁts are generated for Western Australian industry, research organisations and the community.

The Committee, which meets twice a year, oversees ARRC’s research plans and annually reviews the Centre’s activities, based on its objectives.

ARRC Advisory Committee 2004-05 Membership:

Member Position Contact details

Adj. Professor David Agostini Chair 29 Colleran Way ARRC Advisory Committee BOORAGOON WA 6154 Tel: 9364 7006 Fax: 9364 7050 [email protected]

Dr Beverley Ronalds Chief CSIRO Petroleum Resources ARRC 26 Dick Perry Avenue KENSINGTON WA 6151 Tel: 6436 8700 Fax: 6436 8578 [email protected]

Dr Steve Harvey Deputy Chief CSIRO Exploration and Mining ARRC 26 Dick Perry Avenue KENSINGTON WA 6151 Tel: 6436 8610 Fax: 6436 8561 [email protected]

Mr Jeﬀrey John Gresham Industry Representatives Managing Director Titan Resources Level 1, 24 Outram Street WEST PERTH WA 6005 Tel: 9481 6040 Fax: 9481 6035 [email protected]

Rob Male Industry Representative Leader Facilities Engineering Development Function Woodside Energy Limited 240 St George’s Terrace PERTH WA 6000 Tel: 9348 5303 Fax: 9348 4453 [email protected]

Dr Jim Limerick Director General Department of Industry & Resources The Atrium 168 St George’s Terrace PERTH WA 6000 Tel: 9327 5488 Fax: 9327 5533 [email protected] table of contents

Dr Tim Griﬃn Executive Director Geological Survey of Western Australia Department of Industry & Resources Mineral House 100 Plain St EAST PERTH WA 6004 Tel: 9222 3160 Fax: 9222 3633 tim.griﬃ[email protected]

Professor Doug McEachern Pro Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation The University of Western Australia M460 35 Stirling Highway CRAWLEY WA 6009 Tel: 6488 2460 Fax: 6488 1013 [email protected]

Professor Barney Glover Pro Vice-Chancellor Curtin University of Technology Oﬃce of Research and Development Building 100 Curtin University of Technology Hayman Road BENTLEY WA 6001 Tel: 9266 3045 Fax: 9266 3048 [email protected]