bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
China's demand for natural gas: drivers and prospects
Authors: Liu Jin
Published: August 2017

Sustained economic growth in China has triggered a surge of energy and mineral consumption and imports, including natural gas. This study presents recent trends in China’s demand for natural gas in a global context and discusses its drivers and prospects. In the past decade, drivers of China’s demand for natural gas are mainly associated with its rapid economic growth, path of industrialisation and urbanisation.
With more than 1.3 billion people and a rapidly rising income level, China’s demand for energy has surged. It is increasingly difficult for domestic production capacity to supply all of this demand, especially when China’s limited domestic reserves are considered. The prospect of potential growth in natural gas consumption and imports is expected not only due to China’s economic growth, but also a policy imperative (e.g. the 12th Five Year Plan) to increase the share of clean energy sources such as gas and efficient fuels in the energy supply mix, as well as improving energy intensity and other factors that will influence energy sector outcomes.
It also establishes that LNG, in addition to pipeline supplied gas, is likely to be an important source of energy in China in the coming decade; therefore, due to rebalancing its energy mix and increasing the share of non-coal energy sources in China’s energy market, it is anticipated that China will be more dependent on overseas supply of natural gas to fill the gap between domestic production and consumption.
The outlook for Australia's emerging unconventional plays
Authors: McManus Andrew
Published: August 2017

Australia’s world-class CSG resource has seen the country emerge as a global unconventional gas player. Three LNG plants are being constructed, with more than US$50 billion committed to be spent in the sector before 2020. Australia’s unconventional gas story does not stop there. Operators now have shale and tight gas potential, where exploration is now underway in a number of basins across the country.
As with CSG, the initial steps are being taken by the industries’ smaller companies; however, established players like Mitsubishi, Hess, BG and ConocoPhillips have been quick to buy into the opportunity—and at a fraction of the cost of the proven CSG plays. So can shale or tight gas emerge as Australia next major play? This presentation summarises activity levels and discusses which basins present the greatest potential. It also considers the challenges that lie in wait to commercialise new discoveries and the case studies of the US shale and Australian CSG plays to identify key success factors.
This short abstract contains only presentation slides.
Adopting an integrated service-model approach to overcome the skills shortage
Authors: Goode Peter
Published: August 2017

The Australian Government reports 80 planned or approved projects in the Australian resources sector will see demand for skilled labour increase by 70% by 2020. That is an estimated 70,000 new construction jobs and 16,000 ongoing positions in the sector. Several well-documented, proposed strategies address this skills shortage.
One strategy that warrants closer attention is the Integrated Services Contract Model. This model allows a coordinated approach to resource planning and management across multiple sites and projects; it is being successfully used across the oil and gas, mining, and manufacturing industries. This approach is delivering improved safety, quality, and scheduling while reducing total costs as well as facilitating skilled-labour supply.
Companies such as Santos are championing this model to level the resource profile and optimise its operations and assets across the Cooper and Eromanga Basins during five years. The steel manufacturing and mining industries are also using this approach, and the lessons are transferable. It has also been used by Woodside successfully for the past 15 years.
An integrated services model relies on strategies such as asset management to better manage maintenance and shutdown requirements during an asset’s life-cycle, and a program-of-works approach across multiple sites and projects to identify essential versus non-essential work to reduce stress on the same labour pool. Remote and regional locations are also driving innovative solutions such as applying technology for remote site monitoring to reduce on-site manning requirements.
Predicting and optimising the mature Windalia waterflood based on a capacitance-resistance model (CRM)
Authors: Gan Wee Yong , Hartanto Lina , Haynes Andrew , Sayarpour Morteza
Published: August 2017

Waterflood development drilling of the Windalia reservoir on Barrow Island at 40-acre spacing started in 1968, using five-spot and nine-spot inverted drive flood patterns. There was a general conversion to line drive in mid-1970 with various infill and realignment projects. The field comprises more than 220 active injectors and 400 producers.
The reservoir is geologically complex, with low permeability and significant heterogeneity. Historically, empirical techniques and fractional flow models were used for forecasting, but these approaches have many inherent limitations; for example, they do not provide individual well performance and they are not sensitive to changes in operating conditions.
More recently, a capacitance-resistance model (CRM) that uses historical injection and production data has been used to establish long-term behaviours between water injection and oil production wells, including inter-well connectivity, delay time constants and productivity indices. The evaluation of these behaviours allows direct quantification of waterflood efficiency at well-to-well level and improves identification of opportunities for changing injection patterns and prioritisation of operations and well workovers. Optimisation and forecasting of the Windalia waterflood is performed by maximising cumulative oil production by reallocating the available field wide injection water and evaluating individual injection wells target rates.
Numerous optimisation scenarios were built into the models to account for the impact of changing operating conditions such as water availability and aging of wells and processing facilities. CRM is robust and is appropriate for simultaneous optimisation of well rates in a field where water injection and oil production wells are shut-in frequently.
The PowerPoint presentation is not available to APPEA.
Life-cycle assessment: use and application in the Australian energy context
Authors: Rouwette Rob
Published: August 2017

Australia is experiencing a time of major change in its energy sector. First, there is record investment in developing new fossil fuel resources—such as coal, LNG and coal seam methane gas—for export. Second, there is an ever-increasing attention to renewable energy generation for the domestic market.
The looming introduction of a price on carbon (greenhouse gas emissions) in 2012 has fuelled the debate about how clean various energy sources are, and how any/all emissions associated with their development and the generation of energy should be treated.
As a market reponse, a significant increase in using life-cycle assessment (LCA) results to communicate environmental performance, particularly about greenhouse gas emissions, have been witnessed. When undertaken appropriately, a full life-cycle approach is the only acceptable methodology to compare disparate technologies or products; however, given the often technical nature of LCA studies, the results are not always conveyed accurately in the non-technical mainstream media.
This extended abstract discusses case studies related to the energy sector using LCA results—their benefits and shortcomings—in Australian media; suggestions for better communication and decision making in the coming period are also discussed.
The Nappamerri Trough, Cooper Basin unconventional plays: proving a hypothesis
Authors: Trembath Carrie , Elliott Lindsay , Pitkin Mark
Published: August 2017

Beach Energy has started exploring unconventional gas in the Nappamerri Trough, the central trough within the Cooper Basin, where the Permian section has long been regarded as the primary source for most of the conventional hydrocarbons found within the basin.
This extended abstract discusses the data used to identify the unconventional play and the exploration program carried out to date. Mud weights, drill stem test (DST) pressures and log data from early exploration wells identified the Permian formations as overpressured. This with geochemical and mineralogy analyses indicated that the Roseneath and Murteree Shales had potential similar to successful shale gas plays being developed in the USA.
The quartz and siderite content within both shale sections indicated sufficient brittleness for successful fracture stimulation. In addition, the Nappamerri Trough Permian section showed low permeabilities, which, when combined with overpressure, suggested a basin-centred style play within the Epsilon and Patchawarra sandstones and possibly the Toolachee Formation sandstones.
During 2010–11, Beach drilled two exploration wells sited outside structural closure to test both the shale gas and basin centred gas system. Both wells have now been fracture stimulated, with very encouraging gas flows from the Roseneath to Patchawarra section. The latest geological data confirms the pre-drill potential for both gas flow from the shales and the presence and production of gas from sandstones outside structural closure, resulting in a significant shale and tight gas resource booking. Ongoing exploration and development will target a potential 300 Tcf gas in place in PEL 218.
Evaluating the gas potential of Cooper Basin Permian lacustrine mudrocks: a comparison with North American marine shale gas reservoir
Authors: Peyaud Jean-Baptiste , Vallee Melissa , Benson Jim , Taylor Dave
Published: August 2017

The methods to evaluate the potential of marine shale as gas producers have been refined during the past five years with the development of new logging tools and increased experience gained from activity in the US. While most shale plays in the US were deposited in a marine environment, in Australia, however, extensive shales were deposited in continental basins. The question is: are continental and marine shales similar enough for the same methodology to be applied—if not, how should it be adapted or changed?
The type of organic matter, its abundance and the type of hydrocarbons it can generate may differ significantly between continental shale and marine shale. Long-range lateral continuity can be expected from marine deposits as water bodies are commonly wide and deposition processes are well known. Conversely, in continental environments water body sizes are more variable and usually smaller.
In a marine environment, the formations containing organic matter are relatively easy to identify because accommodation depends on global events (eustatic variations, global tectonic events). In continental formations it is more difficult, as accommodation is strongly dependent on regional tectonics. In this extended abstract, a case from the Woodford shale (US) is compared to a case from the Cooper Basin (Australia).Differences in mineralogy, type, abundance and maturity of the organic matter are analysed and their impact on the log response is discussed. Finally, recommendations are made to adapt the methodology to continental shales.
Multi-scale characterisation of the Paaratte Formation, Otway Basin, for CO2 injection and storage
Authors: Bunch Mark , Daniel Ric , Lawrence Mark , Browne Greg , Menacherry Saju , Dance Tess , Arnot Malcolm
Published: August 2017

A resurgent interest in the gas potential of the Gulf of Papua has been enhanced by the recent announcement of developing new LNG facilities in Port Moresby. Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) has recently acquired a 6,000-km2Multi-Client 3D (MC3D) survey in the gulf. Although most of the discoveries in PNG are from the highland areas, the gulf is a proven hydrocarbon province with gas/condensate accumulations previously discovered in several reef build-ups.
It is thought that sediments from the Papuan Fold Belt produced clastic dominated deltas in the Gulf area. Although this play is untested offshore, there is evidence these sandy facies exist and could contain hydrocarbons. On the first phase of acquisition/interpretation, an efficient screening workflow called Prospect Scanner, developed to highlight areas of AVO effects in large 3D seismic datasets, was tested. It uses pre-stack seismic time migrated (PSTM) gathers to extract AVO attributes that are then inverted to derive relative acoustic and shear impedance volumes. Using idealised cross-plots, the relationship between Vp/Vs ratio and the Ip values gives a good indication of the fluid and lithology of the tested interval.
The results are loaded into a conventional interpretation package for interpretation/visualisation. Prospect Scanner has highlighted previously undrilled turbidite and basin floor fan prospects in the region. The Vp/Vs versus Ip cross-plot shows clustering ofthe sand anomaly and good separation from the majority of the plot. These points correspond to the idealised location for a gas sand. Past concerns about lateral prediction of reservoir presence and quality associated with the basin floor fans can be addressed through this workflow.
Advanced characterisation of tight unconventional rocks
Authors: Golab Alexandra , Knackstedt Mark
Published: August 2017

Tight unconventional rocks have become an increasingly common target for hydrocarbon production. Exploiting these resources requires a comprehensive reservoir description and characterisation program to accurately estimate reserves and identify properties that control production. In particular, this requires mapping the porosity at multiple scales and understanding the coupled contributions of fractures, variable pore types, microporosity and mineral heterogeneity to flow, petrophysical response, reserves assessment and recovery processes.
This extended abstract describes a formation characterisation study based on the integrated analysis of data in 2D and 3D at multiple scales on sets of plugs from three unconventional tight gas plays: coal, tight gas and shale. Heterogeneity and geological rock typing is considered at the core scale by classical 3D imaging techniques. Mineralogy and secondary microporosity characterisation is mapped at the plug scale with different modes of 3D X-ray micro-CT analysis coupled with SEM and SEM-EDS analysis.
In particular, the pore connectivity and production potential is probed. SEM and FIBSEM imaging is then used to reveal the porous microstructure of the key phases at the nano-scale in 2D and 3D. This information, collected at multiple scales, is integrated to provide an understanding and quantification of the pore structure and connectivity of these complex rocks. Petrophysical properties that impact the storage capacity and production characteristics are then computed for each key phase and data up-scaled to the plug scale using standard procedures. Results compare favourably with core analysis data, where available.
The presentation slides for this speech have not been made available to APPEA at this stage.
The social licence to operate: how to get it granted
Authors: Fulcher Jonathan
Published: August 2017

This extended abstract explains key issues associated with the social licence to operate, a concept recently developed to explain the tacit acceptance by the community of large development projects, particularly mining, oil and gas projects. It is essentially a concept characterised by an absence of protest, a tacit acknowledgement of the project’s presence or activity in the community, and an economic engagement by that community in the project’s activities and impacts.
As such, it is difficult to measure positively; however, this extended abstract suggests that to achieve the negative milestone of getting and keeping the social licence, a project developer can address several issues:

Educating your stakeholders.
Building relationships with your stakeholders.
Broadly defining your stakeholders.
Not seeing the political tick of obtaining valid approvals as the end of the approvals process, but as the beginning of a new phase of stakeholder engagement.
Keeping the approvals ministers informed but not involved.
Experience suggests that state ministers in all jurisdictions would rather not adjudicate in favour of developers instead of stakeholders, particularly in relation to land acquisition for project footprints. Also, in a legal framework of continuous disclosure and keen press scrutiny, legal compliance can more often than not prove a short-term fix for matters requiring a longer-term focus.
Strategies for obtaining land where the fallback is not a legal process, compulsory acquisition or ministerial intervention need to be more actively considered and developed. It is not so much beyond compliance, but enlarging the notion of compliance to encompass the expectations of governments, the community and a broad view of who the project’s stakeholders are. In this way, a social licence to operate can be granted.
Emerging continuous gas plays in the Cooper Basin, South Australia
Authors: Menpes Sandra , Hill Tony
Published: August 2017

Recent off-structure drilling in the Nappamerri Trough has confirmed the presence of gas saturation through most of the Permian succession, including the Roseneath and Murteree shales. Basin-centred gas, shale gas and deep CSG plays in the Cooper Basin are now the focus of an escalating drilling and evaluation campaign.
The Permian succession in the Nappamerri Trough is up to 1,000 m thick, comprising very thermally mature, gas-prone source rocks with interbedded sands—ideal for the creation of a basin-centred gas accumulation. Excluding the Murteree and Roseneath shales, the succession comprises up to 45% carbonaceous and silty shales and thin coals deposited in flood plain, lacustrine and coal swamp environments.
The Early Permian Murteree and Roseneath shales are thick, generally flat lying, and laterally extensive, comprising siltstones and mudstones deposited in large and relatively deep freshwater lakes. Total organic carbon values average 3.9% in the Roseneath Shale and 2.4% in the Murteree Shale. The shales lie in the wet gas window (0.95–1.7% Ro) or dry gas window (>1.7% Ro) over much of the Cooper Basin.
Thick Permian coals in the deepest parts of the Patchawarra Trough and over the Moomba high on the margin of the Nappamerri Trough are targets for deep CSG. Gas desorption analysis of a thick Patchawarra coal seam returned excellent total raw gas results averaging 21.2 scc/g (680 scf/ton) across 10 m. Scanning electron microscopy has shown that the coals contain significant microporosity.
Assessing connections between aquifers in the CSG industry
Authors: Gossmann Simon , Herbert John , Tovar Miguel , Townley Lloyd , Brooker Andrew
Published: August 2017

Development of conventional and unconventional gas resources, including CSG, has many similarities; however, there are some key differences that may lead to potential impacts on groundwater supply. Conventional reservoirs are usually located at greater depths than commonly exploited groundwater resources and develop when gas becomes trapped by impermeable bounding layers.
In the CSG industry, reservoirs are often lower in permeability than aquifers that commonly provide groundwater supply for agricultural, industrial, urban and other uses; the CSG plays may be located above and below these aquifers. The management of reservoir/aquifer interconnections necessitates a program of focused-data acquisition. For example, groundwater transfer from shallow aquifers to underlying CSG reservoirs may occur where CSG-containing units subcrop beneath shallow aquifers, possibly at significant distances from operating wells.
Arrow Energy is undertaking investigations of connectivity between aquifers, including the connection between the Condamine Alluvium and the CSG-containing Walloon Subgroup. This extended abstract explores the use of analytical and numerical modelling to represent the aforementioned situation as follows:

The behaviour of numerical models at the point of contact between CSG-containing units and overlying alluvial aquifers is being examined in detail—there is specific focus on how horizontal and vertical hydraulic conductivities are assigned at the interface between aquifers. This localised sub-region within a regional scale groundwater flow model has the potential to control the estimations of flows that are most interesting to stakeholders.
The relationship between modelling approaches used by reservoir engineers and hydrogeologists is also explored.
Optimising CSG development: quantitative estimation of lithological and geomechanical reservoir quality parameters from seismic data
Authors: Bathellier Eric , Downton Jon , Castillo Gabino
Published: August 2017

Within the past decade, new developments in seismic azimuthal anisotropy have identified a link between fracture density and orientation observed in well logs and the intensity and orientation of the actual anisotropy. Recent studies have shown a correlation between these measurements that provide quantitative estimations of fracture density from 3D wide-azimuth seismic data in tight-gas sand reservoirs.
Recent research shows the significance of advanced seismic processing in the successful recovery of reliable fracture estimations, which directly correlates to borehole observations. These quantitative estimations of fracture density provide valuable insight that helps optimise drilling and completion programs, particularly in tight reservoirs. Extending this analysis to CSG reservoirs needs to consider additional reservoir quality parameters while implementing a similar quantitative approach on the interpretation of seismic data and correlation with borehole logging observations.
The characterisation of CSG plays involves the understanding of the reservoir matrix properties as well as the in-situ stresses and fracturing that will determine optimal production zones. Pre-stack seismic data can assist with identifying the sweet spots—productive areas—in CSG resource plays by detailed reservoir-oriented gather conditioning followed by pre-stack seismic inversion and multi-attribute analysis. This analysis provides rock property estimations such as Poisson's ratio and Young's modulus, among others, which in turn relate to quantitative reservoir properties such as porosity and brittleness.
This study shows an integrated workflow based on pre-stack azimuthal seismic data analysis and well log information to identify sweet spots, estimate geo-mechanical properties, and quantify in-situ principal stresses.
Aquifer injection for CSG water management in the Surat Basin, Queensland
Authors: Morris Ryan , Horgan Marcus
Published: August 2017

Appropriate water management associated with CSG production is key to regulatory approval and public acceptance of CSG projects. Policy in Queensland makes injection of treated produced water the government's main and preferred option for CSG water management to ensure protection of the Great Artesian Basin as a groundwater resource.
In 2010, Australia Pacific LNG started an extensive program of aquifer injection trials across its Surat and southern Bowen Basin CSG fields. The purpose of the trials is to assess the technical and economic feasibility of aquifer injection. The trial program comprises nine different injection targets across four locations and three aquifers.
Target depths range from less than 100 m to about 1,500 m. A process of desktop study-exploration-testing has been followed. To date, Australia Pacific LNG has completed all exploration activities. These included about 1,200 m of coring, an extensive suite of geophysical logging and post processing, hydraulic testing and physical, geochemical and mineralogical analyses.
This extended abstract describes the results of the exploration activities and the decisions made based on the acquired data. Comparisons are made between the different sites and aquifers. Results of the testing are discussed in the context of technical and economic feasibility of a large-scale injection scheme.
The Portfolio Planning and Ranking (PPR) Project
Authors: Thompson Chris
Published: August 2017

Origin's upstream business started the Portfolio Planning and Ranking (PPR) Project in late 2010 to align individual petroleum business unit plans with organisational strategic goals. The solution generated by the PPR Project provided Origin's upstream business with a consistent platform for absolute and relative assessment of petroleum development opportunity across the organisation.
The rapid growth of Origin's upstream business resulted in several different methods for calculating project economics and assessing the merits of potential opportunities. The use of these varied methods saw the need for a consistent and streamlined approach. Through the PPR Project, Origin's upstream business has improved its ability to objectively and effectively assess its assets and development opportunities.
The solution provides a transparent and scalable platform for continuous integration of critical business information at the operational level. It also provides the capability to report at a commercially relevant level. The project's key to the success was a holistic approach that included people, process and systems technology.
Also important was effective executive sponsorship and project management, ongoing change management and communication and the active participation of managers, subject matter experts and people affected by the project (targetted stakeholders). The project has effectively provided a bridge between technical and commercial disciplines, enabling Origin's upstream business units to make timely and informed decisions, maintain alignment with and support Origin's strategic goals and maximise resource use. Most importantly, an organisational capability gap has been filled with a system that facilitates efficiency and augments governance systems, yet remains flexible enough to effectively manage Origin's diverse petroleum portfolio.
Oil and gas investment decision making—what's at risk?
Authors: Chipman Nick , Gray Rob
Published: August 2017

When considering oil and gas developments in Australia, it is worthwhile to consider what's at risk. This extended abstract considers oil and gas investment decision-making from a first-principles basis, introducing case studies and learnings from past projects. Additionally, investment decisions can examined from the following perspectives:

Setting the mould—decisions crystalise risk; therefore, decision quality is paramount. How do investment decisions serve as expression of corporate risk appetite? What is observable at the time versus what may lay silent?
Too big to fail—can the organisation withstand the risk profile of its chosen investment slate? Is the owner or joint-venture structure sufficiently resilient to undertake the set of activities in question (e.g. deep-water drilling or LNG project developments)?
Management charge—leadership and management motivations may drive projects into risky territory; are the appropriate feedback mechanisms in place?
Dealing with complexity—project execution plans, layers and sub-contracting require formal and informal communication and governance to ensure successful delivery. Has complexity been dealt with? Or does structure mask hidden risk?
Addressing human factors—human interaction and project organisational structures may drive perverse outcomes. What allowance and process reviews and assures against human motivation and influence?
This extended abstract frames investment decision-making and project execution using practical examples, and shows how investment-decision quality is a primary driver of shareholder wealth creation. This has implications for the stage-gate capital processes, governance structures, and investment review practices presently in place in the industry.
The evolution of strategic environmental assessments for oil and gas developments—an approvals practitioner's perspective
Authors: Mitchell Tim , Barrow Janine
Published: August 2017

Recent impact assessments for large-scale developments in Australia have brought a new focus and evolution in thinking in the application of strategic environmental assessments (SEA). The opportunity to provide a robust strategic-planning framework to facilitate certainty in approvals outcomes and timeframes is balanced by the risks of mis-aligned regulatory and external stakeholder expectations for data, engineering definition, process and condition-setting that may set onerous precedents.
The need to consider the commercial reality of longer-term strategic assets and the associated confidentiality considerations is particularly important. While the concept of SEA is facing renewed interest in Australia with regulatory signals that it will continue to be made more standard in approach, it is certainly not a new science. Indeed, it is well established in international approvals circles, with some jurisdictions (e.g. the SEA Directive in the European Union) providing valuable insights. If planned well, SEA can deliver positive approvals outcomes with up-front definition of development zones and forward environmental protection objectives.
This extended abstract provides a practitioner’s perspective on the merits of SEA for the oil and gas industry, referencing lessons learnt at domestic and international levels. Selected case studies and practices from other jurisdictions are outlined, with emphasis on providing a practical solution. The present approach to identify best practice objectives for SEA application for achieving optimal benefits for industry, government and community stakeholders are reviewed. The role of strategic assessment in the context of regional offsets planning is also considered.
Industry arrangements for oil spill preparedness
Authors: Quinn Nick
Published: August 2017

In the post-Montara/Macondo world, the Australian petroleum industry has been actively represented on various working groups focused on the prevention, preparedness and response to significant oil spill incidents. Through the Australian Marine Oil Spill Centre (AMOSC) based in Geelong, Victoria, cooperation and coordination with other international associations has been occurring to ensure ‘reasonable steps’ are taken to develop preparedness and response arrangements commensurate with the risks associated with industry activities.Concurrently and here in Australia, a thorough review of the National Plan has allowed industry to work with government to develop or amend a range of initiatives aimed at ensuring that industry and government strategies are integrated for maximum efficiency in all circumstances.
The scene has been set by a reviewed national risk assessment focusing on all activities of hydrocarbon movement around the Australian coastline. So what has Australian industry actually achieved post-Montara in prevention, preparedness and response to oil spills? This extended abstract shares and explains the practical outcomes of the industry initiatives of oil spills in Australia. The outcomes are planning requirements, equipment location, mutual aid arrangements, training programs and the extended services of industry oil spill response organisations in Australia and overseas.
Ensuring legal compliance: Aboriginal heritage legislation and its application to the petroleum industry
Authors: Scott Gavin , Gay Andrew
Published: August 2017

For practitioners in the petroleum industry, the knowledge of Aboriginal heritage compliance requirements and an understanding of engagement with traditional owners, is vital to ensuring certainty and timeliness in project delivery. For the industry’s potential investors and business partners, this knowledge and understanding will assist in making properly informed investment decisions in Australian petroleum projects.
This extended abstract analyses both the requirements of the South Australian Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988 (and similar legislation in other States and Territories) and how project proponents should engage with traditional owners to increase compliance with these requirements. There are two parts:

Legislative compliance

The Aboriginal Heritage Act—how it applies to petroleum production and exploration operations in SA: how legislative compliance is imperative from legal liability and project delivery perspectives.
Compliance in other jurisdictions: jurisdictional comparisons to show the legal compliance issues facing proponents operating in multiple jurisdictions.
Case study

Exploration to production: a case study on interacting with traditional indigenous owners to increase legal compliance. The case study examines the path followed by all proponents from initial exploration activities to delivering a production project. It focuses on when and how proponents need to consider the Act, and how engagement with traditional indigenous owners can assist with legal compliance. This case study also considers the various types of heritage contracts that can be entered into with traditional indigenous owners, and how these contracts can increase certainty in project delivery.
Overlapping tenure
Authors: Knight Tony
Published: August 2017

Queensland is richly endowed with coal resources that have long supported the state’s thriving coal export industry. The more recent development and growth of the CSG industry, which shares an interest in coal resources, has brought into focus the need to find mechanisms that provide for co-existence between mining and gas proponents.
The present legislative framework in Queensland provides an overlapping tenure between coal mining and CSG proponents. This overlap is extensive, and presents concerns about the certainty of access to resources and security of tenure, which are keys to providing investment confidence.
The drainage of gas from coal seams for reasons of mine safety is long established, and when considered with incentives provided by measures to tax carbon emissions and the opportunity to use the energy value of CSG, there are clearly good reasons to find mutually beneficial ways to extract both coal and gas.
It is submitted that the key co-existence mechanism to allow for the optimal use of coal and CSG is linked to the nature of the resources themselves. That is, the very broad geographic footprint of CSG provides geographic and temporal flexibility to work in and around coal-mining projects.
These arrangements are facilitated by use of commercially based co-development agreements that consider co-ordinated production of both resources within a co-operative framework that provides for safety, communication, planning and, above all, certainty of process and access to resources. These agreements provide mutually beneficial, win-win outcomes and work towards ensuring best use of the state’s coal and gas resources.
Aquifer recharge to assist in the management of produced CSG water
Authors: Smitt Chris , Ife D , Vanderzalm Joanne , Dillion Peter , Davidge Shaun
Published: August 2017

Santos is producing natural gas and expanding its CSG operations in the Surat and Bowen Basins, Queensland for the Gladstone Liquefied Natural Gas (GLNG) project. During the project, it has been estimated that a total of ∼340 GL of associated water could be produced from gas extraction in three CSG fields. Beneficial re-use of this water is a high priority and one option involves treating the water and re-injecting it into the water supply aquifers in the Great Artesian Basin.
In the past 100 years, groundwater pressures in the Gubberamunda Sandstone aquifer, Roma’s main town water supply, have declined more than 80 m and groundwater demand for the town water supply is now more than 5 ML/day. This demand, coupled with forecast droughts in modelled climate change scenarios, provides an impetus for the beneficial re-use of treated produced water.
To assess the feasibility of the aquifer for managed aquifer recharge (MAR), a risk-based framework consistent with the Australian Guidelines for Water Recycling: Managed Aquifer Recharge was applied. A series of assessment stages designed to protect human health and the environment were undertaken, each allowing a decision point for investment.
To date, a MAR well-field has been developed and numerous hydraulic tests have been undertaken along with laboratory/desktop evaluation of the geochemical compatibility of the injected water with the water and sediment of the target aquifer. An injection trial in Q4 2011 will evaluate the aquifer storage potential and confirm numerical/laboratory studies related to hydraulics and water quality compatibility.
Petrophysical properties for CSG reservoirs from 3D imaging at multiple scales
Authors: Golab Alexandra , Knackstedt Mark , McKay Thomas , Ward C , Pinczewski Val
Published: August 2017

CSCSG reservoirs are intrinsically heterogeneous on every scale and the permeability and producibility of CSG is decreased when the pores and fractures are filled with minerals. The 3D characterisation and quantification of pore connectivity, cleat/fracture aperture and spacing, and extent of mineral infilling in coal is required for CSG reservoir evaluation of gas storage and flow characteristics.
A technique has been developed to determine petrophysical properties of coal using data from a large-field, 3D microfocus X-ray computed tomography (µCT) at multiple scales, combined with SEM imaging, and automated mineralogy by QEMSCAN. µCT is a non-destructive technique and the X-ray densities of coal components are distinct; therefore, the pore/fracture, mineral, and coal matrix can be differentiated and quantified in 3D.
The high resolution 3D image data can then be used to measure petrophysical properties. Specifically, this technique characterises porosity and its connectivity, cleat/fracture networks (aperture and spacing), cleat/fracture permeability, and mineral occurrences in 3D to better describe CSG reservoirs. The technique has been tested on samples of bituminous coal from a number of coalfields in the Sydney and Bowen Basins, Australia.
The samples imaged were from 110–114 mm in diameter, yielding voxels ranging from 54–63 µm in size. The results can determine the depositional and post-depositional history of coal seams, in coal preparation and use, and in seam gas studies.
New constraints on stress and fracture orientations in the Shipwreck Trough, Otway Basin: implications for conventional and unconventional exploration and production
Authors: Tassone David , Holford Simon , King Rosalind , Backé Guillaume
Published: August 2017

A detailed understanding of the in-situ stress tensor within energy-rich basins is integral for planning successful drilling completions, evaluating the reactivation potential of sealing faults and developing unconventional plays where fracture stimulation strategies are required to enhance low permeability reservoirs. Newly available leak-off test results interpreted using a new method for analysing leak-off test data constrains the minimal horizontal stress magnitude for the offshore Shipwreck Trough wells to be ∼20 MPa/km, which is similar to the vertical stress magnitude derived from wireline data for depths shallower than ∼2–2.5 km.
Breakouts interpreted from image log data reveal a ∼northwest–southeast maximum horizontal stress orientation and formation pressure tests confirm near-hydrostatic conditions for all wells.
The new method for analysing leak-off test data has constrained the upper limit of the maximum horizontal stress magnitude to be the greatest, indicating a reverse-to-strike-slip faulting regime, which is consistent with neotectonic faulting evidence.
Petrophysical wireline data and image log data to characterise extant natural fracture populations within conventional reservoirs and stratigraphic units that may be exploited as future unconventional reservoirs have also been used. These fracture sets are compared with possible fracture populations recognised in contiguous, high-fidelity 3D seismic datasets using a new method for identifying fracture systems based on attribute mapping techniques.
This study represents the first of its kind in the Otway Basin. Combined analysis of the in-situ stress tensor and fracture density and geometries provides a powerful workflow for constraining fracture-related fluid flow pathways in sedimentary basins.
Removing fault shadow distortions from seismic images using depth-velocity modelling and pre-stack depth migration
Authors: Birdus Sergey , Artyomov Alexey
Published: August 2017

In many areas, fault shadows manifest a serious challenge to seismic imaging. The major part of this problem is caused by different types of velocity variations caused by faults. Pre-stack depth migration with sufficiently accurate velocity model successfully resolves this problem and the high resolution tomographic depth-velocity modelling is the most important component of the solution. During depth processing on a number of real 3D seismic datasets with fault shadows from Australia and other regions, the following were noticed:

The appearance of the image distortions below the faults and the convergence speed of the tomographic velocity inversion depend on the acquisition direction.
Sometimes, tomographic modelling produces depth-velocity models that closely follow geology, but the models contain non-geological looking anomalies in other areas.
In both cases, the depth migration delivers distortion-free images.
If anisotropy is present in faulted areas, it creates additional image distortions and can require extra input data and processing efforts.
To examine these effects and optimise depth-processing workflow, several 3D synthetic seismic datasets were created for different types of velocity anomalies associated with the faults in isotropic and anisotropic media and different acquisition directions.

On synthetic and real data from Australia, different types of fault shadows are illustrated; how they can be solved depending on the acquisition direction are also shown. Some types of the fault shadows are shown to require multi-azimuth illumination to guarantee their successful removal.
Browse Basin sequence stratigraphic study
Authors: Raggatt Jim , Gibbons Tim , Stockley James , Deighton Ian
Published: August 2017

In addition to the large gas fields already discovered in the Browse Basin, there is considerable scope for further exploration success because this basin holds an estimated recoverable reserve of 30 tcf gas.
TGS has completed the Browse Basin Sequence stratigraphic study to specifically understand the many depositional environments of this basin by a comprehensive analysis of 75 key wells all tied to extensive 2D seismic interpretation.
With a standardized lithostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic interpretation, each well has a full 3rd order sequence boundary record across all logged sections, and was subsequently assigned detailed gross depositional environments (GDE). Tied to the GDE’s are specific and highly detailed facies associations, displayed in 26 facies maps, thereby building a robust multi-sequence geological model constrained by sequences.
These basin-wide facies maps delineate known source, reservoir and seal and propose where—within the robust geological model—potentially similar facies have been deposited and preserved. This extended abstract is delivered by the Facies Map Browser (FMB), a unique product, containing all data and interpreted maps.
The Browse Basin FMB allows users to quickly understand the basin-wide depositional history and interpreted facies. With the multi-well and multi-source background database, the FMB product has proven to shorten the exploration cycle by its sheer level of detail and wide ranging interpretation.
Structure and prospectivity of the northern Australian margin collision zone revealed by new regional seismic data
Authors: Tripathi Anand , Jones Will , Williams Adrian
Published: August 2017

The interpretation of recently acquired regional-deep, 2D seismic data across the Timor/Tanimbar Trough has provided a new insight into the structure of this continent/arc collision zone. This data is mostly recorded to 10–12 seconds with an 8 km dual sensor streamer, providing increased resolution and improved penetration compared with vintage data, particularly in the deeper part of the section.
A major improvement in the new data is the imaging of the Australian continental margin succession continuously from the Australian side of the Timor-Tanimbar Trough for a distance of a few tens of km underneath the accretionary prism on the northwest side of the trough.
Structures observed in the accretionary prism itself include fold and thrust belts, imbricate thrusts and extensional half grabens. The detachment surface at its base may provide a regional seal for traps involving Jurassic and Triassic reservoirs in underlying thrusts for which there is some evidence on the seismic data.
The improved visibility of the Mesozoic succession below the accretionary prism allows possible Jurassic source rocks to be followed to the northwest below a growing overburden to a depth at which maturity may be expected. There is also a graben, probably including a greater Jurassic thickness, under the Timor Trough.
Risk-based classification: combination of prescriptive and goal-based approaches
Authors: Otegui Jose Esteve , Le Gallo Brice , Toderan Catalin
Published: August 2017

In the past few years, different events have attracted attention on prescriptive regulations to ensure the safety and integrity of offshore production facilities. Discussions have arisen about whether it is not better to go for full goal-based regulations relying on risk assessments to justify designs and project philosophies. In response to those demands, guidelines about risk-based classification have been published. This extended abstract will give some background about classification, its historic roots and how the prescriptive rules were born. It presents the new guidelines on classification of offshore floating units based on a risk-approach in line with the formal safety assessments. It shows how the correct combination of known and experience-backed prescriptive codes with a risk approach can be obtained to the satisfaction of existing expectations.
Lithofacies and sequence stratigraphic framework of the Kockatea Shale, Dandaragan Trough, Perth Basin
Authors: Jafary Dargahi Hanieh , Rezaee Reza
Published: August 2017

Initial studies affirm large-scale shale-gas potential for the Permo-Triassic intervals of the Perth Basin. The Dandaragan Trough, as a major depocentre in the basin and with the highest number of wells intersecting these intervals, has possibly the greatest shale-gas potential in the area. The primary self-contained shale-gas system proposed for the Dandaragan Trough is in the basal Kockatea Shale (Hovea Member), which was deposited during the Late Permian-Early Triassic.
Seven lithofacies have been identified in a continuous 35 m core from the Hovea Member of the Kockatea Shale at Redback–2. Among recognised lithofacies, besides siliceous mudstone, which contains clastic particles, most are representative of deposition in a shallow marine environment with different energy levels. Bioturbated lithofacies reveal deposition in a higher-energy environment compared with the other lithofacies.
The sequence stratigraphic framework of the Hovea Member is established based on diagnosis of the lithofacies, cyclical stacking patterns, transgressive surfaces of erosion (TSE), and condensed sections (CSs). The framework supports deposition mainly in an aqueous environment with rare regressions. Periodic tectonic activity can be revealed in high-frequency relative sea-level changes during Hovea Member deposition. Gamma ray (GR) log analysis indicates that the highest GR peak is related to black-shale lithofacies with 1.75% TOC content.
The greatest amounts of TOC, however, exist in the fossiliferous mudstone and pyritic mudstone lithofacies. A north–south GR correlation of the Hovea Member shows nearly the same lithological distribution throughout the trough despite its thinning in various areas.