U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2016–3050

July 2016

National and Global Petroleum Assessment

Assessment of Continuous Oil and Gas Resources of the Cooper Basin, 

Australia, 2016

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean continuous resources of 482 million 

barrels of oil and 29.8 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Cooper Basin of Australia.

Acknowledgments

We thank Tony Hill, Elinor Alexander, and Dominic Pepicelli from the South Australia Division for Manufacturing, Innovation, 

Trade, Resources, and Energy (DMITRE) and Anthony Budd and Lisa Hall (Geoscience Australia) for providing critical data and 

discussions on the Cooper Basin that formed the geologic foundation for this assessment.

Introduction

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) quantitatively assessed the potential for technically recoverable, continuous oil and gas 

resources in the Cooper Basin of Australia (fig. 1). The Cooper Basin is within the Eromanga Basin Province as defined by the USGS 

(Klett and others, 1997). For this assessment, the USGS defined a Cooper-Eromanga Composite Total Petroleum System (TPS) with 

Permian-age coal as the primary source rock for oil and gas in the Cooper Basin (Menpes and others, 2013). Seven continuous assessment units (AUs) were defined within this composite TPS to encompass the continuous oil and gas accumulations. They are (1) Patchawarra Trough Tight Gas AU, (2) Nappamerri Trough Tight Gas AU, (3) Queensland Troughs Tight Gas AU, (4) Patchawarra Trough 

Coal Oil AU, (5) Nappamerri Trough Coal Oil AU, (6) Queensland Troughs Coal Oil AU, and (7) Weena Trough Coalbed Gas AU.

Geologic Models for Assessment

The geologic model for continuous (tight) gas is for (1) gas 

generated from coals (or from cracking of oil) to form overpressure 

and (2) migration of gas into tight reservoirs resulting in regional 

gas saturation of tight sandstones. In this study, the model includes 

the potential for deep coalbed gas. The geologic model for the 

occurrence of continuous oil is for some portion of the oil and (or) 

condensate generated within coalbeds to be retained within the coal 

as a self-sourced reservoir system. Similarly, coalbed gas in the 

Weena Trough represents the part of generated gas that is retained 

within coal beds. Geologic analogs from U.S. continuous oil and gas 

accumulations were used to estimate well drainage areas, estimated 

ultimate recoveries, and well success ratios. The assessment input 

data for the seven continuous AUs are shown in table 1.

Continuous Resource Summary

The USGS quantitatively assessed technically recoverable, 

continuous oil and gas resources in seven assessment units within 

the Cooper Basin (table 2). For continuous resources, the mean 

totals are 482 million barrels of oil (MMBO), with an F95–F5 range 

from 0 to 1,444 MMBO; 29,784 billion cubic feet of gas (BCFG), 

with an F95–F5 range from 7,803 to 58,965 BCFG; and 80 million barrels of natural gas liquids (MMBNGL), with an F95–F5 

range from 11 to 205 MMBNGL. About half of the continuous gas 

resource is predicted to be in the Nappamerri Trough Tight Gas AU. 

Given that known resources of conventional oil and gas in Cooper 

Basin strata are estimated at 42 MMBO and 5.5 trillion cubic feet 

of gas (IHS Energy, 2015), mean continuous oil and gas volumes 

of 482 MMBO and 29,781 BCFG represent significant potential 

resources in the Cooper Basin. The probability distributions for 

undiscovered oil resources reflect considerable geologic uncertainty 

(table 2), and it is uncertain how much of the assessed oil resource 

may ultimately be condensate rather than oil.

139° 140° 141° 142° 143° 144°

−25°

−26°

−27°

−28°

−29°

QUEENSLAND

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

NEW SOUTH

WALES

Source: National Park Service

AUSTRALIA

Area of

study INDIAN

OCEAN

CORAL

SEA

TASMAN

SEA

EROMANGA BASIN

PROVINCE

EXPLANATION

Patchawarra Trough Tight Gas AU

Cooper Basin 

Nappamerri Trough Tight Gas AU

Queensland Troughs Tight Gas AU

Patchawarra Trough Coal Oil AU

Nappamerri Trough Coal Oil AU

Queensland Troughs Coal Oil AU

Weena Trough Coalbed Gas AU

0 50 100 KILOMETERS

0 50 100 MILES

Cordillo

 Downs

Durham

Downs

Nockatunga

Bulloo Downs

Quilpie

Figure 1. Map showing the locations of the seven continuous 

assessment units in the Cooper Basin, Australia.
ISSN 2327-6916 (print) ISSN 2327-6932 (online) http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/fs20163050

Assessment input data

Patchawarra Trough Tight Gas AU Nappamerri Trough Tight Gas AU

Minimum Mode Maximum Calculated

mean Minimum Mode Maximum Calculatedmean

Potential production area of AU (acres) 5,000 510,000 701,000 405,333 10,000 2,775,000 4,181,000 2,322,000

Average drainage area of wells (acres) 40 80 120 80 40 80 120 80

Success ratios (%) 50 70 90 70 70 80 90 80

Average EUR (BCFG) 0.4 0.6 1.0 0.619 0.4 0.6 1.0 0.619

AU probability 1.0 1.0

Queensland Troughs Tight Gas AU Patchawarra Trough Coal Oil AU

Minimum Mode Maximum Calculated 

mean Minimum Mode Maximum Calculated mean

Potential production area of AU (acres) 5,000 3,790,000 7,580,000 3,791,667 1,000 697,000 1,072,000 590,000

Average drainage area of wells (acres) 40 80 120 80 80 160 240 160

Success ratios (%) 10 50 90 50 10 50 90 50

Average EUR (BCFG, gas; MMBO, oil) 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.407 0.04 0.08 0.2 0.086

AU probability 1.0 0.7

Nappamerri Trough Coal Oil AU Queensland Troughs Coal Oil AU

Minimum Mode Maximum Calculated 

mean Minimum Mode Maximum Calculated mean

Potential production area of AU (acres) 1,000 533,000 1,567,000 700,333 1,000 1,527,000 6,943,000 2,823,667

Average drainage area of wells (acres) 80 160 240 160 80 160 240 160

Success ratios (%) 10 50 90 50 10 40 80 43

Average EUR (MMBO) 0.04 0.08 0.2 0.086 0.02 0.04 0.1 0.043

AU probability 0.7 0.7

Weena Trough Coalbed Gas AU

Minimum Mode Maximum Calculated 

mean

Potential production area of AU (acres) 1,000 79,000 229,000 103,000

Average drainage area of wells (acres) 40 80 160 93.3

Success ratios (%) 50 70 90 70

Average EUR (BCFG) 0.03 0.35 1.0 0.38

AU probability 1.0

Cooper Basin Assessment Team

Christopher J. Schenk, Marilyn E. Tennyson, 

Tracey J. Mercier, Timothy R. Klett, Thomas 

M. Finn, Phuong A. Le, Michael E. Brownfield, 

Stephanie B. Gaswirth, Kristen R. Marra, Sarah J. 

Hawkins, and Heidi M. Leathers-Miller

References Cited

IHS Energy, 2015, International petroleum exploration and production database: IHS Energy, 15 Inverness Way East, Englewood, CO 80112.

Klett, T.R., Ahlbrandt, T.S., Schmoker, J.W., and Dolton, G.L., 1997, Ranking of the World’s oil and gas provinces by known petroleum volumes: 

U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 97–463, CD–ROM.

Menpes, S.A., Hill, A.J., and Pepicelli, Dominic, 2013, Characteristics of the Gidgealpa Group composite resource play in the Cooper Basin, South 

Australia, in Unconventional Resources Technology Conference, Denver, Colorado, August 12–14, 2013, Proceedings: Society of Exploration 

Geophysicists, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Society of Petroleum Engineers, URTeC Control Number 158265, p. 2621–2630.

For More Information

Assessment results are available at the USGS Energy Resources Program Web site at http://energy.usgs.gov.

Total petroleum system (TPS) 

and assessment units (AUs)

AU

probability

Accumulation type

Total undiscovered resources

Oil (MMBO) Gas (BCFG) NGL (MMBNGL)

F95 F50 F5 Mean F95 F50 F5 Mean F95 F50 F5 Mean

Cooper-Eromanga Composite TPS

Patchawarra Trough Tight Gas AU 1.0 Gas 708 2,215 3,981 2,259 2 7 15 8

Nappamerri Trough Tight Gas AU 1.0 Gas 4,645 14,547 25,705 14,781 6 21 43 22

Queensland Troughs Tight Gas AU 1.0 Gas 2,378 8,975 20,829 9,926 3 13 34 15

Patchawarra Trough Coal Oil AU 0.7 Oil 0 98 314 113 0 437 1,541 531 0 6 24 8

Nappamerri Trough Coal Oil AU 0.7 Oil 0 108 400 134 0 680 2,715 886 0 8 37 12

Queensland Troughs Coal Oil AU 0.7 Oil 0 174 730 235 0 781 3,534 1,102 0 11 51 15

Weena Trough Coalbed Gas AU 1.0 Gas 72 259 660 299 0 0 1 0

Total undiscovered continuous resources 0 380 1,444 482 7,803 27,894 58,965 29,784 11 66 205 80

Table 2. Assessment results for the seven continuous assessment units in the Cooper Basin, Australia.

[MMBO, million barrels of oil; BCFG, billion cubic feet of gas; MMBNGL, million barrels of natural gas liquids. Results shown are fully risked estimates. For gas accumulations, 

all liquids are included under the natural gas liquids (NGL) category. F95 represents a 95 percent chance of at least the amount tabulated. Other fractiles are defined similarly. 

Fractiles are additive under the assumption of perfect positive correlation. Shading indicates not applicable]

Table 1. Key assessment input data for the seven continuous assessment units in the Cooper Basin, Australia.

[AU, assessment unit; %, percent; EUR, estimated ultimate recovery per well; BCFG, billion cubic feet of gas; MMBO, million barrels of oil. EUR, well drainage area, and success 

ratios are from U.S. shale-gas and shale-oil analogs. The average EUR input is the minimum, median, maximum, and calculated mean. Shading indicates not applicable]