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Queensland Geological Record 2017/01 the Shale Oil Potential of the Toolebuc Formation, Eromanga and Carpentaria Basins, Queensland: Regional Overview S

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Queensland Geological Record 2017/01 the Shale Oil Potential of the Toolebuc Formation, Eromanga and Carpentaria Basins, Queensland: Regional Overview S Department of Natural Resources and Mines Geological Survey of Queensland Queensland Geological Record 2017/01 The shale oil potential of the Toolebuc Formation, Eromanga and Carpentaria basins, Queensland: Regional overview S. Edwards & A. Troup Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Justin Gorton and Behnam Talebi for their comments and review, Micaela Grigorescu for initial figure preparation and editorial assistance, and the GSQ’s Spatial and Graphics Services, in particular Gina Nuttall, Liam Hogan, Paula Deacon and Sharon Beeston, for final figure drafting and layout. The authors would also like to thank Melanie Fitzell for her contributions in instigating the early stages of this project. Address for correspondence: Geological Survey of Queensland Department of Natural Resource and Mines PO Box 15216 City East QLD 4002 Email: [email protected] © State of Queensland (Department of Natural Resource and Mines) 2017 The Queensland Government supports and encourages the dissemination and exchange of information. The copyright in this publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Under this licence you are free, without having to seek permission from DNRM, to use this publication in accordance with the licence terms. You must keep intact the copyright notice and attribute the State of Queensland, Department of Natural Resource and Mines, as the source of the publication. For more information on this licence visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en Cover photographs: Core photography from the Hylogger™ for GSQ Julia Creek 1. ISSN 2203-8949 (CD) ISBN 978-1-922067-88-3 (CD) ISSN 2206-0340 (Online) ISBN 978-1-922067-87-6 (Online) Issued: April 2017 Reference: EDWARDS, S. & TROUP, A., 2017: The shale oil potential of the Toolebuc Formation, Eromanga and Carpentaria basins, Queensland: Regional Overview. Queensland Geological Record 2017/01. i Contents Introduction ........................................................................1 Geological overview .................................................................4 Eromanga and Carpentaria basins ....................................................4 Toolebuc Formation .................................................................6 Depositional environment and facies .................................................9 Exploration history ..............................................................11 Resource assessment methodology .....................................................15 Summary ........................................................................18 References ........................................................................19 FIGURE 1. Unconventional hydrocarbon potential in Queensland’s sedimentary basins. ...................2 2. Extent of the Toolebuc Formation in Queensland.. .3 3. Stratigraphic column of the Early Cretaceous ...........................................5 4. Core photography from the Hylogger™ for GSQ Julia Creek 1 .............................7 5. Typical wireline log response for the Toolebuc Formation in GSQ Julia Creek 1. ...............8 6. USGS-based methodology adapted for the assessment of the Toolebuc Formation. .............17 ii Queensland Geological Record 2017/01 1 INTRODUCTION Exploration for petroleum in Queensland began in earnest in 1960 after the introduction of the Australian Government Petroleum Search Subsidy Act 1957. Exploration was conducted across the state, but gradually focussed into the Bowen– Surat and Cooper–Eromanga regions, where the larger discoveries were made. Within historical exploration well completion reports there are many examples of hydrocarbon shows within tight reservoirs or over source rock intervals. A review of these reports and other published petroleum systems studies has highlighted formations across Queensland that may have potential for unconventional petroleum, though further assessment of their characteristics is required to determine their potential as viable exploration targets (Figure 1). The exploration for unconventional petroleum resources, other than coal seam gas, is still in its infancy in Queensland. While coal seam gas (CSG) has defined reserves underpinning three liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects, only 50 wells have been drilled across the state to assess other unconventional resources. Further studies are necessary to build an understanding of the potential for these resources. In this context, the Geological Survey of Queensland (GSQ) has examined the Toolebuc Formation in western Queensland. The Toolebuc Formation of the Eromanga and Carpentaria basins (Figure 2) has been historically disregarded as a hydrocarbon exploration target, due to its low thermal maturity, porosity and permeability. Despite these characteristics, many well completion reports held by the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines (DNRM) describe oil staining, petroliferous odours and mudlog gas kicks from this formation. Where it is shallow and immature, the Toolebuc Formation is a target for oil shale development, particularly near Julia Creek, in the northern Eromanga Basin, and has been noted to have high vanadium and molybdenum contents. Given this potential for oil shale at shallow depths, the focus of this assessment is to determine whether the formation may be prospective for shale gas or oil where it has been buried more deeply. This GSQ record forms the first part of a series of records detailing the shale oil potential of the Toolebuc Formation. It will summarise the outcomes of previous studies completed on the Toolebuc Formation and its characteristics as well as introduce the assessment criteria set out by Charpentier & Cook (2010) and Charpentier & Cook (2011). Further records will discuss the data and interpretation, the prospectivity evaluation and petroleum systems modelling of the formation. 2 Edwards & Troup 138° 140° 142° 144° 146° 148° 150° 152° 154° Prospective basins and formation extents Mesozoic basins Laura Basin Maryborough Basin 12° 12° Extent of Toolebuc Formation Extent of Walloon Coal Measures 0 100 200 Kilometres Late Palaeozoic basins Permian extent in the Cooper Basin Nappamerri Trough 14° Text Extent of Roseneath Shale, Epsilon Formation 14° ± and Murteree Shale in the Cooper Basin Extent of the Aramac Coal Measures and Betts Creek beds in the Galilee Basin Laura Extent of Permian Coal Measures in the Bowen Basin Basin Taroom Trough Extent of the Black Alley Shale 16° 16° Extent of Tinowon Formation Mid Palaeozoic basins Adavale Basin and Warrabin Trough Carpentaria Basin Early Palaeozoic basins 18° Georgina Basin 18° Isa Super Basin Proterozoic basins Burdekin Basin Extent of Lawn Hill Formation, Termite Range Formation and Riversleigh Siltstone in the Isa Super basin 20° 20° Millungera Basin Georgina Basin Styx Basin 22° 22° Drummond Basin Galilee Basin Eromanga Northern Northern Territory Basin 24° 24° Maryborough Bowen Basin Basin Adavale Basin Warrabin 26° Trough 26° South Australia Cooper Nambour Basin Basin 14B\Reports\Toolebuc\DeepGas-Oil.mxd Eromanga Basin Surat Basin 28° 28° Ipswich Basin Clarence-Moreton New South Wales 138° 140° 142° 144° 146° 148° 150° 152° Basin 154° Figure 1. Unconventional hydrocarbon potential in Queensland’s sedimentary basins. Queensland Geological Record 2017/01 3 138° 140° 142° 144° 146° 148° 150° 152° 154° 12° Boreholes by operator 12° # 0 100 200 GSQ E Kilometres LRH k PGN Beryl Anticline 14° 14° ± Canaway Fault Toolebuc extent (approx.) Well Number Well Name 1 LRH BESSIES 1 2 LRH EUSTON 1 16° 3 LRH KATHERINE 1 16° 4 LRH SANCHO 1 5 LRH KATHERINE WEST 1 6 LRH KATHERINE EAST 1 7 LRH SCOTTY CREEK 1 8 LRH ROCKY CREEK 1 9 LRH FITTLEWORTH 1 10 LRH SILVERFOX 1 11 PGN MINION 4 18° 18° Carpentaria 12 PGN MINION 5 13 PGN MINION 8 B a s i n 14 PGN MINION 9 15 PGN MINION 6 16 PGN MINION 3 17 GSQ JULIA CREEK 1 18 LRH SALTERN 1 19 LRH WONGANELLA 1 20° 20 LRH SALTERN 1A 20° 21 LRH PRAIRIE 1A JULIA CREEK 22 LRH HOLLOWBACK 1 )"") 23 LRH ALMA 1 # 24 LRH CULLODEN 1 25 LRH DARR 1 26 LRH NORA 1 27 LRH WARDOO 1 E k k E 28 LRH BRIXTON 2 22° 22° E E k k k 29 LRH PRAIRIE 1 k E E E E E E E E E E E EE Northern Northern Territory E E 24° 24° BEDOURIE )" E r o m a n g a B a s i n 26° 26° South Australia CHARLEVILLE )" 17A\Records\QGR2017-01.mxd 28° 28° New South Wales 138° 140° 142° 144° 146° 148° 150° 152° 154° Figure 2. Extent of the Toolebuc Formation in Queensland. 4 Edwards & Troup GEOLOGICAL OVERVIEW Eromanga and Carpentaria basins The Eromanga and Carpentaria basins are part of the Great Australian Superbasin—a series of interconnected Mesozoic basins covering most of Queensland (Jell et al., 2013). The Carpentaria and Eromanga basins cover most of western Queensland. They are separated by the Euroka Arch, a broad subsurface ridge developed in the Late Jurassic (Exon & Senior, 1976). The Late Triassic to Late Cretaceous Eromanga Basin underlies approximately 1,000,000 km2 of Central Australia, including Queensland, Northern Territory, New South Wales and South Australia and is up to 2700 m thick (Gallagher & Lambeck, 1989). It overlies several different basement terranes, including the Georgina, Cooper and Galilee basins, as well as the Mount Isa Province and Maneroo Platform. There are two main depocentres; the central Eromanga Depocentre overlying the Cooper Basin and the Poolowanna Trough (Radke, 2009). The depositional history of the Eromanga Basin can be subdivided into four main phases. Localised deposition
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