Great Address in Australia’s Oil and Gas “heartland”
100% Finder Exploration & Operator
Permit area:~80 km2
Water depth: 80 to 140 metres
Finder Exploration was awared Exploration Permit WA-445-P on 13 May 2010 (which was gazetted as W09-9 in the 2009 acreage release round). The Permit is located on the Rankin Platform of the Carnarvon Basin and is approximately 150 km from the coastline of Western Australia and approximately 30 km from the pipeline network that supplies gas to the North West Shelf Venture export LNG trains onshore near Karratha. WA-445-P lies between the Echo/Yodel & Sculptor fields and the recent Lady Nora Triassic oil discovery to the east and Wheatstone field to the west.
Please click here to view the WA-445-P farmout flyer.
Potential Play-Concepts
Play rich Permit with proven play types:
- Othello prospect - Mungaroo subcrop ("D", "E" and "F" sands) at ~3,050 metres sub-sea Echo/Yodel analogue with ~2.8 TCF OGOP highside unrisked resource estimate with high liquids potential.
- Mungaroo Channels - three amplitude supported Mungaroo channels (Noblige analogue) at ~3,900 metres sub-sea. A total of ~1 TCF OGIP best estimate unrisked resource.
- Cassio prospect - Amplitude supported Oxfordian age stratigraphic play at ~3,350 metres sub-sea. Jansz/lo analogue with ~250 BCF OGIP best estimate unrisked resource.
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Geology of the Northern Carnarvon Basin
The geological setting of the Northern Carnarvon Basin (and its deep water portion known collectively as the Exmouth Plateau) is the result of multiple periods of extension, subsidence and minor compression, associated with the fragmentation of eastern Gondwana followed by compression in the latest Miocene. The Northern Carnarvon Basin developed by repeated reactivation of basement structures during Palaeozoic and Mesozoic tectonism where the Archean and Proterozoic structures plus Gondwanan plate tectonics controlled the shape of the Palaeozoic sub-basins. As more sediments were deposited into the basin the pre-existing north-eastern to south-western orientation tectonic fabric was overprinted on the younger Mesozoic basins. Structurally the area is dominated by multiple extensional episodes with the Oxfordian rifting preserved as the Barrow-Dampier-Exmouth Basins which is interpreted as a failed rift arm that formed during the Argo Land rift. The Valanginian rifting associated with the KV regional break-up unconformity and separation of the Greater India landmass is also superimposed on top of previous rifting episodes. The Carnarvon Basin is arguably Australia’s premier oil and gas province, with significant oil and gas discoveries and production infrastructure.
WA-445-P Prospectivity
The WA-445-P Permit is uniquely located within close proximity to significant fields and discoveries, including the Wheatstone gas field to the west, the lago gas field to the southwest, the Lady Nora oil discovery to the east and the Echo/yodel liquids rich gas fields, also to the east. 500 km2 of new reprocessed pre-stack depth migrated ("pSDM") 3D seismic data across the Permit has been interpreted and has confirmed the structural targets within the Permit. A comparison of the original 3D seismic data and the resultant pSDM seismic is shown in the figure below. This dataset also ties nearby Wheatstone gas field to the west and the Lady Nora oil discovery in the east.
Comparison of the original 3D seismic data and the new pSDM reprocessed seismic data. This shows that it is possible to intersect the good Mungaroo sands encountered in Malus-1 significantly higher within the Othello prospect, while also showing that these sands are absent in the Malmsey-1 well to the south.