seeing through the dolerite-seismic imaging of petroleum ... journal 2015.pdf · appea journal...

APPEA Journal 2015—297

M. Bendall1, C. Burrett2,3, P. Heath4, A. Stacey5 and E. Zappaterra6 1Ardilaun Energy9 Merrion SquareDublin 2, Ireland2Palaeontological Research and Education Centre, Mahasarakham UniversityMahasarakham, Thailand 440003School of Physical Sciences, University of TasmaniaPrivate Bag 79Hobart, Tasmania 70014Empire Energy Corporation InternationalC/o 144 Warwick StreetWest Hobart, Tasmania 70005Empire Energy Corporation InternationalC/o Box 315Fyshwick, ACT 26096Global Exploration Services LimitedLittle Lower EaseCuckfield RoadAnsty, West Sussex RH17 5ALUnited [email protected]

ABSTRACTPrior to the onshore work of Empire Energy Corporation

International (Empire) it was widely believed that the wide-spread sheets (>650 m thick) of Jurassic dolerite (diabase) would not only have destroyed the many potential petroleum source and reservoir rocks in the basin but would also absorb seismic energy and would be impossible to drill. By using innovative acquisition parameters, however, major and minor structures and formations can be identified on the 1,149 km of 2D Vibro-seis. Four Vibroseis trucks were used with a frequency range of 6–140 Hz with full frequency sweeps close together, thereby achieving maximum input and return signal.

Potential reservoir and source rocks may be seismically mapped within the Gondwanan Petroleum System (GPS) of the Carboniferous to Triassic Parmeener Supergroup in the Tasma-nia Basin. Evidence for a working GPS is from a seep of migrated, Tasmanite-sourced, heavy crude oil in fractured dolerite and an oil-bearing breached reservoir in Permian siliciclastics.

Empire’s wells show that each dolerite sheet consists of several intrusive units and that contact metamorphism is usu-ally restricted to within 70 m of the sheets’ lower margins. In places, there are two thick sheets, as on Bruny Island. One near-continuous 6,500 km2 sheet is mapped seismically across central Tasmania and is expected, along with widespread Permian mudstones, to have acted as an excellent regional seal.

The highly irregular pre-Parmeener unconformity can be mapped across Tasmania and large anticlines (Bellevue and Thunderbolt prospects and Derwent Bridge Anticline) and probable reefs can be seismically mapped beneath this uncon-formity within the Ordovician Larapintine Petroleum System. Two independent calculations of mean undiscovered potential

Seeing through the dolerite-seismic imaging of petroleum systems, Tasmania, Australia

Lead author MalcolmBendall

(or prospective) resources in structures defined so far by Em-pire’s seismic surveys are 596.9 MMBOE (millions of barrels of oil equivalent) and 668.8 MMBOE.

KEYWORDS

Helium, Centralian Petroleum System, Larapintine Petro-leum System, Gondwanan Petroleum System, Ordovician, Permian, Jurassic, Cenozoic, Longford Basin, Tasmania Basin, seismic acquisition, dolerite, iodine.

INTRODUCTION

Since the publication of Burrett and Martin’s ‘Geology and Mineral Resources of Tasmania’ in 1989, many scientific advances have been made in Tasmania, one of which includes the onshore seismic detail of the geology below the Tasmania Basin, which has contributed to the evolving three dimensional map of Tasmania (Corbett et al, 2014). The 45,000 km2 Tasmania Basin is a typical Gondwana glacimarine, pericratonic basin that extends across 30,000 km2 onshore and probably another 15,000 km2 offshore (Fig. 1). The petroleum potential of onshore Tasmania was recog-nised with the mining of Tasmanite Oil Shale from 1910–35 and the production of a wide variety of distilled petroleum products. The modern search for subsurface petroleum was, however, inhibited by the belief that the extensive and thick sheets of dolerite (diabase) would have thermally destroyed any potential source rocks (e.g. Late Carboniferous–Permian, Woody Island Formation and Tas-manite) and occluded porosity in potential reservoirs (e.g. Permian Liffey–Faulkner Groups and Lopingian coal measure sandstones, Fig. 2). It was also believed that the dolerite sheets would preclude the seismic imaging of sequences beneath the dolerite. Seismic surveys carried out by Empire Energy Corporation International (Empire) and its subsidiary companies between 2001–07, however, have shown that 2D Vibroseis surveys may image sequences and structures both within and below the Tasmania Basin (including the Precambrian structures on the west coast of Tasmania around Zeehan), and Empire’s fully cored wells have shown that the ther-mal effects of the dolerite sheets were not as pervasive as once thought. Indeed, the high seismic velocities shown by the dolerite strongly suggests that it would have acted as a very effective seal except within 40–50 m of the surface where joints are open (Mul-ready, 1995; Stacey and Berry, 2004; Leaman, 2006).

From the 1980s to the present, Empire and its subsidiary and pre-decessor companies expended AU$56 million meeting licence con-ditions (Great South Land Minerals Ltd, 2009), and have employed petroleum industry consultants to review progress on its onshore ex-ploration and to help plan and implement exploration programs (e.g. Barrett, 2010; Blackburn, 2004; Carne, 1992, 1997; Mulready, 1987, 1995; Treadgold, 2001; Wakefield, 2000; Young, 1996). Most recently, international consultant companies have been commissioned to evaluate the potential petroleum resources, audit expenditure and assess the potential economic value of onshore tenements based on Empire’s geophysical, geological, geochemical and drilling programs (RPS Energy 2008, 2009; Anderson and Schwab, 2004; Hockfield and Eales, 2013; Odedra et al, 2013; WHK Denison Ltd, 2009).

298—APPEA Journal 2015

M. Bendall, C. Burrett, P. Heath, A. Stacey and E. Zappaterra

The aim of this paper is to briefly summarise some of the evi-dence for the petroliferous nature of onshore Tasmania, and pro-vide examples of the range of major structures and sequences that have been imaged and interpreted during Empire’s surveys and discuss their relevance to both the geological history and petroleum exploration in the state. A summary of the calculated potential (or prospective) undiscovered resource within the seis-mically identified structures is also included.

Onshore Tasmania geological summary

The geological history of onshore Tasmania has been sum-marised by Stacey and Berry (2004), and most recently by Corbett et al (2014). Proterozoic metasediments cover much of the wilderness areas in northwest and southwest Tasmania.

Younger Proterozoic sequences occur in central Tasmania and have been incorporated in a Devonian fold-thrust system, along with Cambrian volcanics and sediments and Ordovician to middle Devonian shelf and basinal sediments. Deformed Late Proterozoic quartzites-pelites-dolomites have been cored in two of Empire’s stratigraphic holes at Hunterston–1 (between 980 m and TD at 1,324 m) in central Tasmania, and Shittim–1 on Bruny Island (between 1,585 m and TD at 1,751 m; see Fig. 1; Bendall et al, 2000, fig. 13; Reid et al, 2003). Precambrian Tasmania consists of several blocks that probably originated near southern Laurentia (Burrett and Berry, 2000; Halpin et al, 2014) and coalesced during the late Proterozoic and Cambrian (Moore et al, 2015).

During the Ordovician, western Tasmania was a small platform with highlands and alluvial fans that were gradually transgressed

Bellevue–1

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Stockwell–1

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Figure 1. Extent of the Late Carboniferous-Late Triassic Tasmania Basin. The Tasmania Basin extends offshore southwards beneath the extensive south Tasmanian shelf, adapted from Reid and Burrett (2004). Ten stratigraphic wells—Bellevue–1 (completed to 272 m), Bridgewater–1 (252 m), Gilgal–1 (51 m), Hunterston–1 (1,324 m), Jericho–1 (640 m), Pelham–1 (503 m), Lonnavale–1 (557 m), Shittim–1 (1,751 m), Sorell–1 and Stockwell–1—were drilled by Empire and predecessor companies. Other wells were drilled by Mineral Resources Tasmania (MRT). Geological base map from MRT.



westwards by a tropical sea leading initially to the establishment of a siliciclastic platform (consisting of the Lower Ordovician Deni-son Group), followed by a carbonate platform (consisting of the Gordon Group) from the Middle to Late Ordovician (Calver et al, 2014). The Gordon Group carbonates are mainly shallow water but deep water sedimentation is known along the southern and eastern margins of the platform and graptolitic shales are found across most of eastern Tasmania dating from the Early Ordovician to Early Devonian (Burrett et al, 1984; Calver et al, 2014). Platform carbonate sedimentation was replaced by the mainly shallow ma-rine, siliciclastic latest Ordovician to Early Devonian Eldon and Tiger Range Groups. From the Ordovician to the Devonian, Tasma-nia may be divided into Western and Eastern Tasmanian terranes separated by a wide belt of faults parallel to the Tamar Lineament. The Western Tasmanian Terrane was characterised by platform sedimentation from the Late Cambrian to the Early Devonian (the Wurawina Supergroup) and the Eastern Tasmanian Terrane by basinal turbidites of the Mathinna Supergroup, from the Early Ordovician to Early Devonian. The Early Palaeozoic successions were deformed in the mid-Devonian into a fold-thrust belt. Gran-ites intruded during the Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous and form a horseshoe-shaped belt in the west, southwest, north and east of Tasmania (Seymour et al, 2014).

The Tasmania Basin was initiated during the Late Carbon-iferous along an axis paralleling the Tamar Lineament and sur-rounded by the crescent of Devonian granites (Clarke, 1989). This north–northeast to south–southeast axis acted as a north–south shifting depocentre through the Permian. Initial tillite dominated sequences gave way to Late Carboniferous-Early Permian high to moderate total organic carbon (TOC) black shales (including the Tasmanite Oil Shale) of the Woody Island Formation, in the south of the basin, and Quamby Formation, further north. Glacimarine conditions continued to near the end of the Permian. An irregular Early Permian topography with considerable relief is evident in the modern Central Highlands area. Glaciated valleys were filled with tillite and younger glacimarine sequences, leaving highlands and islands that were progressively on-lapped by younger Permian sequences (Banks and Clarke, 1987). Marine conditions gave way to terrestrial sedimentation in the Lopingian with the deposition of the Cygnet Coal Measures and correlatives. Widespread fluviatile sands and silts were deposited during the Triassic (Reid et al, 2014).

Plant and tree-bearing Jurassic volcanogenic sandstones dated to 182 Ma are found at Lune River in southern Tasmania interbedded with basaltic andesite, which is co-magmatic with widespread dolerite intrusions across Tasmania (Bromfield et al, 2007; Everard et al, 2014; Leaman, 1975). These sediments were intruded by dolerite during a short period from 181–180 Ma in the Toarcian (Everard et al, 2014). Dolerite sheets are exposed across about 14,500 km2, and formed—along with the Ferrar basalts of Antarctica—a large igneous province.

Cretaceous uplift was followed by Cenozoic terrestrial sedi-mentation in small extensional basins such as the Longford Basin and Derwent Graben (Quilty et al, 2014). The morphology of the uplifted Central Plateau and parts of western and eastern Tasma-nia were modified by glacial erosion and sedimentation during the Quaternary (Colhoun et al, 2014).

Figure 2 (opposite). Summary Ordovician to Jurassic geological column for onshore Tasmania, adapted from Bendall et al (2000). For further details of Tasmanian stratigraphy see Corbett et al (2014). Traditionally, the Parmeener Supergroup has been informally subdivided into a lower marine sequence (Late Carboniferous–Sakmarian), a lower freshwater sequence (Liffey and Faulkner Groups; Late Sakmarian to Early Artinskian), an upper marine sequence (Art-inskian–Guadalupian) and an upper freshwater sequence (Upper Parmeener Supergroup; Late Permian–late Triassic). These informal terms are sometimes used on the seismic interpretations as they are easily recognised seismic units. The Cascades Group, which is labelled on some seismic interpretations, is a correlate of the Berriedale Limestone plus the calcareous shales of the Nassau Formation.

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Petroleum systems onshore Tasmania

Early exploration in Tasmania was encouraged by the pres-ence of a world-class source rock, the Tasmanite Oil Shale and by the presence of electrical conductivity anomalies, iodine anomalies, oil seeps and a breached oil-bearing reservoir (see Figs 3 and 4).

Numerous oil seeps have been reported in Tasmania, and the geochemistry of some of these is consistent with deriva-tion from indigenous source rocks, and several seeps were geochemically matched to the Gordon Group limestones (Bendall et al, 1991; Volkman and O’Leary, 1990).

The seep at Lonnavale, 40 km due west of Hobart, was discovered in a quarry in an unusually highly fractured and veined Jurassic dolerite by Bottrill (2000), and subsequent detailed geochemistry of biomarkers showed that it is a mi-grated, low sulphur, heavy crude derived from an anoxic Tas-manites rich source. Methylphenanthrene maturity indices show that it was generated from a mature source rock with a vitrinite reflectance (R

0) equivalence of 0.75–0.85 (Revill, 1996;

Wythe and Watson, 1996) but not from a source that had been overheated, for instance, by proximity to a dolerite intrusion where much higher R

0 vitrinite equivalent values of at least

R0 1.3 should be found (Othman et al, 2001).Outcrops of sandstones, shaley coal and siltstones south

of Zeehan, near to the western margin of the Tasmania Basin (Fig. 1), are correlates of the latest Permian Cygnet Coal Mea-sures (stippled pattern with coal above the Abels Bay Forma-tion in Fig. 2) and ‘contain abundant brightly fluorescing oil’ and bitumen with a maturation level of the oil at R

0 0.75–0.8%

(Cook, 2003, 2007). ‘The presence of such abundant evidence of oils and bitumens within the Permian sections of Australia is unusual’ (Cook, 2003). These Zeehan outcrops are inter-preted as a breached Late Permian reservoir containing Perm-ian sourced oil. Oil generation and migration is suggested by oil inclusions in both the Zeehan and Hunterston–1 Permian siliciclastics (Cook, 2003, 2007; Reid et al, 2003).

Empire’s stratigraphic wells drilled on Bruny Island (Shit-tim–1, Jericho–1 and Gilgal–1, 1,751 m, 640 m and 50 m, re-spectively) yielded gas, condensate and oil. The induced flow of Shittim–1 measured at the choke manifold was 120 psi and bright-green oil flowed, was collected in vacuum flasks by independent mud loggers and tested by gas chromatograph, and the gas was flared (Great South Land Minerals Ltd, 2009). Carbon isotope analysis of the Jericho–1 methane shows that it is thermogenic (Bendall et al, 2000, fig. 15). The high helium values (up to 4.83% air corrected) along with nitrogen and condensate/oil up to C8 are also indicative of an oil and gas field source (Bendall et al, 2000, fig. 14; Burrett, 1997; Nikonov, 1973). A chromatographic analysis of a core sample of black shale/slate from 1,676 m in the Shittim–1 well yielded an algal sourced oil with a chromatogram extremely close to that of an Ordovician sample from the Gordon Group limestone at Lune River, southern Tasmania (Burrett, 1997, fig. 8; Volkman and O’Leary, 1990). The oil is hypothesised to have migrated from the Ordovician into the Proterozoic along the near horizontal thrust fault separating the Parmeener Supergroup rocks from the underlying Late Proterozoic metamorphics (Bendall et al, 2000; Burrett, 1997).

Further encouragement was provided by electrical con-ductivity studies in northeast Tasmania by Parkinson and Hermanto (1986) and Parkinson et al (1988) along the pre-viously geologically (rather than geophysically) identified Tamar Lineament (also termed the Tamar Fracture System, Tamar Fault Zone, Tamar Thrust, and Tamar Thrust Zone by various authors) that separates the Western Tasmanian from the Eastern Tasmanian terranes (see Figs 3 and 4). Parkinson and Hermanto concluded that the most likely cause of the conductivity anomaly:

‘...seems to be fractured rock saturated with highly conducting fluids. Archie’s Law suggests that porosity of 20–40% is necessary with a fluid conductivity of the order of 10 Sm-1. Fluids with such a high conductivity have been reported, but are generally confined to oilfields’ (Parkinson and Hermanto, 1986).

B A

0 50 200100

km

East Tasmanianterrane

West Tasmanianterrane

Figure 3. Iodine occurrences in surface waters of Tasmania based on data supplied by Dr Paul Richards (from Burrett et al, 2007). Trend of Tamar Fracture (or Linea-ment or Fault Zone)—A is based on Williams (1978) and B is based on Seymour and Calver (1995).

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Figure 4. Possible, probable and confirmed oil seeps in Tasmania, adapted from Bendall et al (1991).



In central Tasmania, this wide fracture zone has been con-firmed as east dipping by teleseismic and magnetotelluric stud-ies and coincides with an area of anomalously high surface heat flow (Holgate et al, 2010; Rawlinson et al, 2006).

More recently, studies on iodine in surface waters in Tasmania (Burrett et al, 2007) showed that high concentrations are pres-ent close to or on the major faults in central Tasmania (Fig. 3). Meteorological and geochemical modelling showed that these inland areas should be deficient in iodine (Butler et al, 2007, fig. 8). Iodine is abundant in petroleum basin brines and surface iodine anomalies have proved useful in petroleum exploration (Gallagher, 1983; Kudelsky, 1977; Tedesco, 1998). The most likely source for the iodine anomalies shown in Fig. 3 is, therefore, from brines of a petroliferous basin leaking along major faults.

The abundance of Cenozoic faults has caused many to sug-gest that any petroleum generated within the Tasmania Ba-sin would have leaked. A study of fault shale smear factor by Collings (2007), however, has shown that simple normal faults in Tasmania are mostly impermeable due to an infilling of Permian mudrocks, such as the widespread Ferntree Group, and are unlikely to have acted as major fluid flow conduits. As helium has a very small atomic radius, the abundance of helium in the Shittim–1 and Hunterston–1 wells at depth and below the dolerite is evidence for the seal characteristics of much of the Permian shale sequence and of the Jurassic dolerite sheets (Bendall et al, 2000).

Using Bradshaw’s (1993) classification, Empire identified three petroleum systems in onshore Tasmania: a possible lat-est Proterozoic (Centralian Petroleum System); an Ordovician-Early Devonian (Larapintine Petroleum System) within the Wurawina Supergroup; and, a Pennsylvanian-Triassic (Gond-wanan Petroleum System) within the Parmeener Supergroup of the Tasmania Basin (Bendall et al, 2000; Reid and Burrett, 2004).

The Centralian Petroleum System onshore Tasmania is based mainly on a helium-dry gas found in the latest Proterozoic but not in the Permian, in Empire’s Hunterston–1 stratigraphic well in central Tasmania (Great South Land Minerals, 2009). The Larapintine Petroleum System in Tasmania is analogous to the producing fields in the Amadeus Basin of central Australia and in the Tarim Basin of northwest China (Bradshaw, 1993; Li, 1995).

The oil-prone Gondwanan Petroleum System is considered more prospective than the gas, condensate and helium prone Larapintine Petroleum System. Maturation of the Gondwanan Petroleum System—as measured by vitrinite reflectance, pollen colour alteration, thermal alteration index (TAI) and geochemi-cal parameters—increases towards the south of the basin, being undermature in the north to mature for oil in the south (Reid and Burrett, 2004). The Gondwanan Petroleum System in Tas-mania is considered to be closely comparable to the producing Cooper Basin of central Australia and to the South Oman Basin of Oman (Bendall et al, 2000).

Modern exploration in the Tasmania Basin commenced in 1984 with the issue of exploration licence EL 29/1984. Strati-graphic wells were drilled between 1995 and 2008 (by Empire and its predecessors), resulting in six wells with oil and gas shows and five pre-collar wells (Bendall et al, 2000; Great South Land Minerals, 2009; Reid et al, 2003).

SEISMIC SURVEYS

Early seismic surveys

In 1989, the Bureau of Mineral Resources (BMR, now Austra-lian Geoscience) conducted a 2,010 km offshore multichannel seismic survey around Tasmania that included circumnaviga-tion of Bruny Island in the south (Exon et al, 1989). Prelimi-nary processing showed that Permian sediments and dolerite

could be provisionally identified. The earliest onshore seismic surveys were carried out by Mineral Resources Tasmania (Lea-man, 1978; Richardson, 1987). Richardson’s test survey, using explosives, showed that the seismic reflection technique could be used successfully in the area of North Bruny Island, that en-ergy was transmitted through a thick dolerite sheet, and that good-quality reflections were obtained from below the dolerite. Later drilling of Shittim–1 by Empire showed that Richardson had correctly predicted that the low-amplitude zone at depth corresponded to homogenous Precambrian units (Bendall et al, 2000). Unfortunately, the seismic data were not processed and remained unpublished, and the belief persisted that seismic reflection surveys would not work in Tasmania.

Modern seismic surveys

The first modern onshore seismic survey was carried out by AGSO (Australian Geological Survey Organisation, now Geo-science Australia) in 1995, the purpose of which was primarily to image deep crustal structures, and only 20 km of the survey was devoted to imaging shallow structures in the centre of the Tasmania Basin (Barton et al, 1995; Drummond et al, 2000). An interpretation of the seismic data of this short line, however, showed that where dolerite was not at the surface, dolerite mar-gins, faults, the basal Parmeener Supergroup unconformity and some formations within the Parmeener Supergroup could be identified (Leaman, 1996; Bendall et al, 2000, fig. 16). Later, a teleseismic study across northern Tasmania revealed significant but deep differences between the Western and Eastern Tasma-nian terranes. The Eastern Tasmanian Terrane is shown to have a dense, probably oceanic, crust beneath the Mathinna Group sedimentary rocks in contrast to the continental crust of the Western Tasmanian Terrane (Rawlinson et al, 2006).

The first extensive 2D seismic surveys onshore Tasmania were carried out by Empire in the southern hemisphere sum-mers of 2001, 2006 and 2007, and covered a total of 1,149 line km using Vibroseis (Fig. 5). In the Tasmanian lowlands, it was possible to design straight survey lines across fields and along straight roads and tracks. In the Tasmanian highlands, however, the steep topography and the widespread presence of boulder fields and/or dense areas of environmentally sensitive vegeta-tion often necessitated surveying along sinuous roads and the construction of new tracks.

Empire’s seismic surveys were preceded by completion and analysis of regional geochemical, geological, magnetic and gravity data bases (Leaman, 2006). These processed data were then overlain on digital terrain maps of Tasmania and models created with differing sun angles (e.g. Fig. 6a), which were used to identify major geological structures. This method is particularly useful in the Tasmania Basin because of the topo-graphic contrast created by the weathering-resistant dolerites. The potential field data were then used to construct contacts along maximum gradients in the data. These lines or worms (Fig. 6b–e) are, on a horizontal plane, similar to lines drawn by geologists when manually interpreting potential field data sets. In 3D, the worms form surfaces that are a function of the 3D geometry of rocks with contrasting properties (Archibald et al, 1999; Holden et al, 2000). The program identifies inflection points in the combined gravity and magnetic data and draws them as lines at different depths. Domal structures contain-ing dolerite are easily identified with this technique due to the density and magnetism of the dolerite contrasting with sedimentary rocks of the Tasmania Basin. The Bellevue Dome is apparent both in a map of geology draped over topogra-phy (Fig. 6a) and in the worms (Fig. 6b). The major domes and faults were therefore identified prior to Empire’s seismic surveys.



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Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic-sandstone, chert, dolomite and metamorphic rocks

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2001 2D seismic(659 km acquired)2006 2D seismic (152 km acquired)2007 2D seismic (345 km acquired)

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Figure 5. Map showing onshore seismic lines surveyed by Empire in 2001, 2006 and 2007. Geological base map from Corbett et al (2014). Reproduced with permission of the Geological Society of Australia.


M. Bendall, C. Burrett, P. Heath, A. Stacey and E. Zappaterra Seeing through the dolerite-seismic imaging of petroleum systems, Tasmania, Australia

(e)

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Recent cover Jurassic dolerite Glaciomarine sequences

Granite Sandstones shales limestone Basalt & volcaniclastics Quartzite & schists

Lakes

Geological Legend (Key units only)

Cenozoic Jurassic Permian

Devonian Ordovician

Cambrian Pre-cambrian

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Figure 6. Tasmania with geology draped over topography with different sun angles and multiscale mapping of potential field data worms carried out by fractal graphics. Geological map is from Mineral Resources Tasmania. Digital Terrain Model is from Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (Tasmania). (a) Geology of Tasmania with a northeast sun angle, perpendicular to most structures and the Tasmania Basin axis; (b) geology and worms at 1,000–5,000 m depth; (c) geology and worms at 5,000–10,000 m; (d) geology and worms at 10,000–20,000 m; and, (e) geology and worms at 20,000–34,000 m depth.

Continued next page.



The seismic surveys were designed to cross the worms, faults and major structures at 90° to their long axis and also along the long axes of folds as close to structural culminations and as far away from identified faults as possible. Maximum reflector response and minimum diffraction of the signal was thereby achieved and, therefore, there was minimum loss of already weak return signals. Four Vibroseis trucks were used with a fre-quency range of 6–140 Hz. Many full frequency sweeps close together achieved maximum signal input and, therefore, maxi-mum return signal, and the truck spread ensured good contact and, therefore, good energy propagation into the ground.

Any background noise, such as wind and traffic, was de-creased by stacking three seismic sweeps in the seismic ac-quisition truck and sending the composite stack to the seismic processing company. The number of geophones was increased to further minimise noise. Extra care was taken to ensure that all geophones were firmly secured. The fold was increased by reducing the standard regional geophone spacing from 50 m (20 readings/km) to 20 m (50 readings/km).

The standard industry practice of shooting at 6–40/60 Hz was replaced by shooting the full frequency sweep, and geophone receiving frequencies were matched accordingly.

RESULTS

The seismic surveys conducted by Empire have shown that with the careful choice of acquisition parameters and spe-cialised processing—described in the previous section and tabulated in Table 1—the sub-dolerite structures may be suf-ficiently imaged to determine a structural history and to delin-eate prospects and leads.

Important results of Empire’s seismic surveys are shown in Figures 7–20. These surveys have been tied to surface geology (Fig. 8) and to the results of deep stratigraphic drilling by Em-pire (Shittim–1, Hunterston–1 and other wells shown in Fig. 1; Bendall et al, 2000; Reid et al, 2003) and by Mineral Resources Tasmania (Fig. 1). Interpretations were refined using crooked line processing and the seismic velocities measured in a down-hole seismic survey of Empire’s Hunterston–1 well by Stacey (2004). Measured velocities for the following stratigraphic units are:• Ferntree Formation (4,100 m/s);• top dolerite (5,170 m/s);• intermediate dolerite (7,190–6,040 m/s);• basal dolerite (6,550 m/s);• Cascade Group (5,190 m/s);• Liffey Group (4,160 m/s); and,• Bundella Formation (4,350 m/s).

The high quality of Empire’s seismic across the Cenozoic ter-restrial infill of the Longford Sub-basin (or Longford Basin) al-lowed Lane (2002) to construct isopachs (see fig. 9.29 in Quilty et al, 2014) and to recognise and map six sedimentary seismic packages and correlate these with drill hole logs (Fig. 7).

Pre-Tasmania Basin rocks were deformed during the Middle Devonian Tabberabberan Orogeny (Seymour et al, 2014). The rocks beneath the Cenozoic Longford Basin (Longford Sub-basin in Fig. 1) consist of a series of stacked thrusts dipping northeast. This zone is about 40 km wide and coincides with the trend of the Tamar Fracture System. To the west and south-west of the Longford Basin, the structural style is progressively modified from thrusts and through thrusts and folds to a region dominated by large folds such as the Bellevue Anticline and prospect (see Figs 10 and 11).

Numerous structures seen on the seismic sections are ei-ther prior to or coeval to the intrusion of dolerite in the Early

Jurassic. Both extensional and compressional structures are observed. Events associated with the break-up of Gondwana are responsible for the gross modern morphology of Tasmania. Uplift in the Middle to Late Cretaceous followed by significant east–northeast extension was associated with the opening of the Tasman Sea. Faults and folds related to this series of events are the most numerous in the seismic sections. Many of the faults interpreted from the seismic data in the Tasma-nia Basin are probably reactivated or located over faults in the pre-Parmeener Supergroup rocks.

Figure 8 shows an interpretation of a structurally simple seis-mic line along the road from northern Tasmania southwards on to the Central Highlands dolerite plateau. More structural complexity is evident along other lines following roads from the Midland lowlands to the Central Highlands dolerite plateau. Figure 9 shows a section from the lowland Midlands of Tasma-nia westwards to the highlands. Thrust Zone 2 is interpreted as a Permian growth fault and a considerable thickening of Perm-ian strata is evident on the eastern side of the fault (Stacey and Berry, 2004). This normal fault was subsequently thrusted and later converted to a transcurrent fault in post-dolerite (i.e. post Early Jurassic) times (Blackburn, 2004). Thus, the present tran-sition from the central lowlands to the highlands appears to be a long-lived feature with it being close to or coincident with an Ordovician carbonate platform edge, the boundary between Western and Eastern Tasmanian terranes, and the transition from Early Permian land to basinal sedimentation.

Seismic imaging of the Gondwanan Petroleum System

The Gondwanan Petroleum System in Tasmania has been described by Bendall et al (2000) and Reid and Burrett (2004). Structural traps within the Gondwanan Petroleum System con-sist of shallowly dipping domes above older steeper domes—as at Bellevue and Thunderbolt—or as anticlines or fault traps, as in the leads and prospects shown in Figure 12. Many of these structures are Cenozoic in age, though a more precise age cannot be ascertained and some are Jurassic in age (see Figs 10 and 11). Reid et al (2003) showed that deformation of the Upper Parmeener Group in central Tasmania either pre-ceded or was coincident with dolerite intrusion in the Early Jurassic. Exploration is focusing on defining Jurassic-age traps as all thermal modelling has shown that maximum hydrocar-bon generation was mid-Cretaceous (Bendall et al, 2000; Reid et al, 2003). Given the complex structural history of some areas in Tasmania, however, there is scope for petroleum migration and filling of Cretaceous-Cenozoic traps.

Exploration is focusing on situations where potential reser-voirs are at a distance from intrusive sheets of dolerite. Empire’s seismic surveys show that one major sheet extends across most of central Tasmania (see Figs 10 and 11) and its very high seis-mic velocity indicates that this would make an excellent region-al seal. Empire’s fully cored stratigraphic wells at Shittim–1 and Hunterston–1 showed that the thick (>650 m) dolerite sheets are composite with many internal contacts between different grainsize textures (Bendall et al, 2000; Reid et al, 2003). The dol-erites, therefore, intruded in several pulses and obvious contact metamorphic effects such as calc-silicate hornfels are limited to 20 m below the dolerite sheet at Hunterston–1 (Reid et al, 2003). If the dolerite had intruded in one intrusive event, pronounced contact metamorphic events would be expected at distances of up to 1,000 m or more from the dolerite sheet (Holford et al, 2012). Moreover, vitrinite reflectance values from samples at

Continued from previous page.



65 m beneath the Hunterston dolerite do not indicate elevated temperatures. The porosity of the Liffey Group, 60 m below the dolerite, has been substantially reduced by secondary calcite cementation. The basal Permian conglomerate (not tillite), however, has had dolomite clasts dissolved, presumably by circulating hydrothermal fluids, thereby forming an excellent potential reservoir with a mean porosity of 16.9% and a mean permeability of 6,323 mD (Reid et al, 2003).

Vibroseis sourceAcquisition type Sercel 388 24 Bit Telemetry System

Energy source Three input-output 42,000 lb (19,051 kg) peak force 6 × 6 truck-mounted vibrators online

Vibrator point interval 20 m

Vibrator array 15 m pad-pad/no moveups

Vibrator array location Centred on station pegs (centred at shot point 100)

Receivers 12 × 10 Hz SM24 Geophones per group

Receiver interval 20 m

Receiver array 20 m (12 phones with 1.67 m phone spacing)

Receiver array location Centred between stations (centered at SP 100.5)

Sweep length 12 sec sweeps

Number of sweeps Two 12 sec sweeps per velocity point

Sweep type Monosweep

Sweep frequencies 6–140 Hz

Sweep taper 200 ms taper

Sweep energy per km 1,200 sec/km or 800 sec/km

Sweep control Pelton Advance 2 Model 5

Accelerometers Pelton M5 High Performance

Similarity system Pelton VIBRA-SIG

Peak force 44,000 lbs (20,000 kg)

Hold down weight 44,200 lbs (20,048 kg)

Vibrator drive level Force control on—80% peak force

Phase lock Ground force phase lock

Number of channels 300 channels

Spread geometry Symmetric split spread

Maximum offset 2,990—10—0—10—2,990 m

Fold 150 fold with 10 m common depth point interval

Record length 6.0 sec

Correlation sample rate 2 ms

Written to tape source receiver 2 ms

Table 1. Acquisition parameters used in Empire’s onshore Tasmania seismic surveys.





Bracknell

fault

infe

rred

faul

t infe

rred

faul

t

S1

S2S3

S4

S5

S6S7

SP 150.0

0.00

200.0 250.0 300.0 350.0 450.0 500.0 550.0 600.0

0.100.200.300.400.500.600.700.800.901.001.10

400.0

SP 150.0

0.00

200.0 250.0 300.0 350.0 450.0 500.0 550.0 600.0

0.100.200.300.400.500.600.700.800.901.001.10

400.0SSW NNE

0

kilometres

1 5

TWT

TWT

Figure 7. Seismic section along Empire seismic line TB01-SB (see Fig. 5 for locality) across the Longford Basin (Longford Sub-basin in Fig. 1). S1-S7 are Paleocene-Oligocene, non-marine sedimentary sequences recognised by Lane (2002) and tied to downhole logging in Sulzberger Ltd well OP–1 (Matthews, 1983). S1 is the youngest sequence. For details of Longford Basin sequences based on Empire’s seismic see Lane (2002) and Corbett et al (2014).




Figure 8. Seismic section along Empire seismic line TB01-TH, tied to surface geology along the road on to Central Plateau and to MRT stratigraphic well Golden Valley–1. (Blackburn, 2004). Note that individual units within the Pennsylvanian-Triassic Parmeener Supergroup, the base of the dolerite sheet and the basal Parmeener Supergroup unconformity are readily identified on the seismic section and correlated to outcrops along the road.

dolerite

Triassic

Gordon Grouplimestone

base Parmeener unconformity

Triassic quartz sandstone

top Cascades Formation

Bundella Mudstone

. Jd (top dolerite 1)

upper part of Permian (upperglaciomarine sequence)

Permian-.

0

kilometres

51

40,000 50,000

1,500.0 1,400.0 1,300.0 1,200.0 1,100.0 1,000.0 900.0 800.0 700.0 600.0

-0.50000

0.00000

-0.25000

0ffset:SP:

Golden Valley–1

TWT






Tria

ssic

qua

rtz s

ands

tone

Wes

tE

ast

A

Mt Fran

klin

Tunb

ridge

TB01

-ST

2,400

2,200

2,000

1,800

1,600

1,000

800

1,400

s\

MidlandHwy

Blac

k Tier

Lake

Sore

ll

Lake

Cres

cent

0 kilom

etres

51

TWT

Figu

re 9

. Int

erpr

eted

Empi

re se

ismic

line T

B01-

ST. S

ee Fi

gure

5 fo

r loc

ality.

Loca

tions

of M

RT w

ells a

re sh

own

in Fi

gure

1. N

ote t

hick

enin

g of

the b

asal

Parm

eene

r Sup

ergr

oup

acro

ss th

e thr

ust f

aults

. The

se th

ree t

hrus

t zon

es h

ave b

een

wren

ched

late

r to

form

flow

er st

ructu

res (

Blac

kbur

n, 20

04).

Also

note

relie

f on t

he su

b-Pa

rmee

ner S

uper

grou

p unc

onfo

rmity

, and

note

the w

este

rn w

all of

a pa

laeov

alley

is st

eep (

at po

int A

on le

ft of

diag

ram

) and

is pr

obab

ly th

e tra

ce of

a pr

e-Pa

rmee

ner t

hrus

t and

that

the

valle

y has

prob

ably

been

infil

led by

late

st Ca

rbon

ifero

us ti

llite

. Ext

ract

of M

RT ge

olog

ical m

ap pu

blish

ed w

ith pe

rmiss

ion of

MRT

. Blu

e is L

ower

Parm

eene

r Sup

ergr

oup (

late C

arbo

nife

rous

–Per

mian

), gr

een i

s Upp

er Pa

rmee

ner S

uper

grou

p (lat

est P

erm

ian to

Tri

assic

), da

rk or

ange

is Ju

rass

ic do

lerite

, ora

nge i

s Cen

ozoic

basa

lt, an

d lig

ht br

own i

s Qua

tern

ary s

edim

ents.


undifferentiatedCenozoic fault

the basement section between shot-points 280 and 900contains zones of reflectors that dip both left and right. Theoverstepping event that rolls over at shot-point 650 mayresult from under migration of the basement section and inan alternative interpretation that could represent either anantiform with a steep western limb or a reverse fault.

seismic line TB01_TB commences on the western edge of the Central Highlands along the Lyell Highway

unconformity

a dolerite sill intrusion in the Lower ParmeenerSupergroup

the Parmeener Supergroupforms a graben controlled bya Cenozoic fault on the leftand a pre-Jurassic fault on theright.

Derwent BridgeAnticline

Upper ParmeenerSupergroup

Lower ParmeenerSupergroup

shot-points 900 and 1,650:interpretation of basement basedon changes of character andcoherency. Events uniformly dipat 20° towards the west.

base of dolerite

the Base Parmeener Supergroup unconformitypick is constrained by several dippingreflectors between shot-points 1,200 and 1,350that appear truncated by the horizon.

a zone comprising several pre-dolerite faults is interpreted between shot-points 1,650 and 1,725, where the dolerite

Location (town, intersection)Drill Site

Legend:

AnticlineBellevueTB01-TB tied to TB01-PB

the Base Parmeener unconformityand other Parmeener horizons arebased on the tie with TB01_TB

Lower Parmeener Supergroup:"Upper Marine Sequence"

a zone comprising several pre-dolerite faults is interpreted between shot-points 1,650 and 1,725, where the doleritesill appears to thicken rapidly towards the west.

base Permeenerunconformity

horizons in footwall interpretedfrom laterally coherentreflectors

TB01_PB is the longest line in the survey at92.84 km and confined to the Central Highlands

footwall

southwards continuation of theGreat Pine Tiers Fault

Jurassic dolerite sill - thickness~800 m

Parmeener Supergroup - thickness belowdolerite: SP 3,400 = 500 m, SP 3,450 = 675 m

Eldon Group:sandstone andsiltstone 2,700 m

Gordon Group:limestone 3,650 m

Parmeener Supergroupsection 1,800 m thick

Direct Hydrocarbon Indicators:bright spots in crest. est.depth 4,000 m

Direct Hydrocarbon Indicators:bright spots in crest. est.depth 5,700 m

dolerite thins from 800 mto 250 m

0

kilometres

51

DB#1

-0.40000

-2.00000

0.00000

0.20000

0.40000

0.60000

0.80000

1.00000

1.20000

1.40000

1.60000

1.80000

2.00000

2.20000

2.40000

Shot-point:

-0.40000

-2.00000

0.00000

0.20000

0.40000

0.60000

0.80000

1.00000

1.20000

1.40000

1.60000

1.80000

2.00000

2.20000

2.40000

Shot-point:

Intersection Lyell Hwy andMarlborourgh Hwy

Bronte Park

1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 9,000 10,000 11,000 12,000 13,000 14,000 15,000 17,000 18,000 19,000 20,000 21,000 22,000 23,000 24,000 25,000 26,000 27,000 28,000 29,000 30,000 31,000 32,000 33,000 34,000150.0 200.0 250.0 300.0 350.0 400.0 450.0 500.0 550.0 600.0 650.0 700.0 850.0 900.0 950.0 1,000.0 1,050.0 1,100.0 1,150.0 1,200.0 1,250.0 1,300.0 1,350.0 1,400.0 1,450.0750.0 800.0

16,000

35,000 36,000 37,000 38,000 39,000 40,000 41,000 42,000 43,000 44,000 45,000 46,000 47,000 48,000 50,000 51,000 52,000 53,000 54,000 55,000 56,000 57,000 58,000 59,000 60,000 61,000 62,000 63,000 64,000 65,000 66,000 67,0001,500.0 1,550.0 1,600.0 1,650.0 1,700.0 1,750.0 1,800.0 3,700.0 3,650.0 3,600.0 3,550.0 3,400.0 3,350.0 3,300.0 3,250.0 3,200.0 3,150.0 3,100.0 3,050.0 3,000.0 2,950.0 1,350.0 2,800.0 2,750.03,500.0 3,450

49,0002,900.0 2,700.0

WestEast

68,000

West EastBV#2BV#1

0ffset:

TWT

0ffset:

TWT

(a)

(b)

Figure 10a and b. Composite east–west seismic cross-section across Tasmania. Red is basal Parmeener Supergroup unconformity, blue is Lower Parmeener Supergroup (late Carboniferous–Permian), green is Upper Parmeener Supergroup (latest Permian to Triassic), dark orange is Jurassic dolerite, orange is Cenozoic basalt, and light brown is Quaternary sediments. Figure 10 continued on next page.





the Lower Parmeener Supergroup lies beneath the dolerite sill, which intruded at the boundary between the Upper andLower Parmeener Supergroups, generally at or near the top of the "Lower Marine Sequence".

Liffey Group (potentialreservoir)

base Parmeenerunconformity pre-Jurassic and

undifferentiatedCenozoic reverse faults

Reflectors within the basementgenerally dip towards the eastbetween 20° to 40°.

Scotts Tier anticlinedolerite: 500 m thick


between SP 1,200 M and1,500 m at 2 sec, TWTindicates a foldeded structure.

Interlaken anticline

Early Permian reservoir (30 m thick) at

base Permian unconformity at1,600 m depth faults interpreted as part of the

Tiers Fault System (pre-doleritenormal faults) between SP 1,675 mand SP 1,800 m.

east dipping normal faults form partof the Tiers fault system.

Scotts Tier fault block

600 m depth

dolerite: 540 m thickness

.

TB01-PB tied to TB02_BA

base Parmeener unconformitypre-Jurassic Fault SP 2,200 m to SP 2,350 m: this

portion of line has been acquiredalong reclaimed land betweenGreat Lake and ShannonLagoon, and is 'out of character'.

Liffey Group (potentialreservoir) 50 m

basal tillitebase of BundellaMudstone

top of "Lower MarineSequence"

the "Lower Marine Sequence"thins and the top tillite horizononlaps the base Parmeenerunconformity horizon towards thewest over a basement high(SP 170).

TB01_PB tied toTB01_ST

TB01_ST is 59.9 km, beginning in theCentral Highlands near the intersectionof the Lake Highway and InterlakenRoad and finishing east of Tunbridge.Acquisition was across the CentralHighlands, Great Western Tiers andthe northern Midlands.

the Lower Parmeener Supergroup lies beneath the dolerite sill, which intruded at the boundary between the Upper andLower Parmeener Supergroups, generally at or near the top of the "Lower Marine Sequence".

Liffey Group


Legend:

0

kilometres

51

-0.40000

-2.00000

0.00000

0.20000

0.40000

0.60000

0.80000

1.00000

1.20000

1.40000

1.60000

1.80000

2.00000

2.20000

2.40000

Interlaken

105,000 106,000 107,000 108,000 109,000 110,000 111,000 113,000 114,000 115,000 117,000 119,000 120,000 121,000 122,000 123,000 124,000 125,000 126,000 127,000 128,000 129,000 132,000 133,000 134,000 135,000 136,000450.0 500.0 550.0 600.0 650.0 700.0 750.0 800.0 850.0 900.0 1,050.0 1,100.0 1,150.0 1,200.0 1,250.0950.0 1,000

118,000400.0

EastWest

1,350.0 1,400.0 1,450.0 1,500.0 1,550.01,300 1,650.01,600

IL#1Interlaken anticlineScotts Tier fault block Scotts Tier anticline

Scotts Tier–1

-0.40000

-2.00000

0.00000

0.20000

0.40000

0.60000

0.80000

1.00000

1.20000

1.40000

1.60000

1.80000

2.00000

2.20000

2.40000

Miena

70,000 71,000 72,000 73,000 74,000 75,000 76,000 77,000 78,000 79,000 80,000 81,000 82,000 83,000 85,000 86,000 87,000 88,000 89,000 90,000 91,000 92,000 93,000 94,000 95,000 96,000 97,000 98,000 99,000 100,000 101,0002,600.0 2,550.0 2,500.0 2,450.0 2,400.0 2,350.0 2,300.0 2,250.0 2,200.0 2,150.0 2,000.0 1,950.0 1,900.0 1,850.0 1,800.0 1,750.0 1,700.0 1,650.0 1,600.0 1,550.0 200.0 250.0 300.02,100.0 2,050

84,0001,500.0

350.0103,000 104,000

2,650.0

EastWest

69,000

Steppes

east dipping normal faults formpart of the Tiers Fault System

Scotts Tier–2

0ffset:SP:

TWT

0ffset:SP:

TWT

(c)

(d)

Figure 10c and d. Continued from previous page. Composite east–west seismic cross-section across Tasmania. Red is basal Parmeener Supergroup unconformity, blue is Lower Parmeener Supergroup (late Carboniferous–Permian), green is Upper Parmeener Supergroup (latest Permian to Triassic), dark orange is Jurassic dolerite, orange is Cenozoic basalt, and light brown is Quaternary sediments. Figure 10 continued on next page.




Figure 10e. Continued from previous page. Composite east–west seismic cross-section across Tasmania. Red is basal Parmeener Supergroup unconformity, blue is Lower Parmeener Supergroup (late Carboniferous–Permian), green is Upper Parmeener Supergroup (latest Permian to Triassic), dark orange is Jurassic dolerite, orange is Cenozoic basalt, and light brown is Quaternary sediments.

undifferentiatedCenozoic fault

faults interpreted as part of theTiers Fault System (pre-doleritenormal faults) between SP 1,675 mand SP 1,800 m.

east dipping normal faults form partof the Tiers fault system.

Tunbridge–1 located approximately1 km south of line TP01_ST. Collar:"Upper Marine Sequence", TD formation:Proterozoic dolomite TD = 914 m.

.

undifferentiated Cenozoic fault

a post-dolerite fault and anassociated pre-dolerite fault areat approximately SP 1,835 m

Parmeener Supergroup~ 1,000 m thick

this large structure was formed during early Cenozoic. TheMajor movement across the structure has downthrown theParmeener Supergroup to the east by 400 m. Positive flowerstructure probably relates to later compressional events

Liffey Group: potentialreservoir

reflectors in the basement section are linear anddip towards the northeast. These are interpretedas a series of stacked thrust sheets.

Butlers Rise fault block

Parmeener Supergroupsequence ~800 m thick

base Permeenarunconformity

Hobart

TB01_TB

Golden ValleyHagley

Derwent Bridge TB01_STTB01-PB

Ross–1(Quoin)

Bellevue–1

Bothwell

Hunterston–1

Miena

TunbridgeBronte ParkInterlaken

Steppes

Intersection Lyelland MarlboroughHwys


Legend:

0

kilometres

51

-0.40000

-2.00000

0.00000

0.20000

0ffset:

0.40000

0.60000

0.80000

1.00000

1.20000

1.40000

1.60000

1.80000

2.00000

2.20000

2.40000

SP:141,000 142,000 143,000 144,000 145,000 146,000 147,000 149,000 150,000 151,000 153,000 155,000

1,850.0 1,900.0 1,950.0 2,000.0 2,050.0 2,100.0 2,150.0 2,200.0 2,250.0 2,300.0 2,350.0154,000

West Tunbridge Butlers Rise fault blockButlers Rise–1

2,400.0 2,450.0148,000

Tasmania

East

138,000 139,0001,700.0 1,750.0 1,800.0

140,000

Tunbridge RG145

134,000 135,000 136,0001,650.01,600

0

kilometres

20 10060

Map Legend:Existing drill sitesProposed drill sites

TWT

ab

c

d e

(e)



Florentine Valley Thunderbolt–1

Thunderbolt AnticlineGordon Gp limestone dips steeply west,overlain by a conformable sequence ofPermian dipping NE at about 10°.

north plunging syncline

structure inGordon Gp

base Parmeenerunconfomity

dolerite

possible unconformity trap in Gordon Gp limestone

Gordon Gp: 'upperlimestone'

Location (town, intersection)

Drill Site

Legend:

base Parmeenerunconformity

Ouse Osterley Victoria Valley zone of seismic artefacts resulting from a change in surface conditions


Jurrasic dolerite

low amplitude, incoherentreflectors, indicative of Jurassicdolerite



base dolerite

-0.40000

-2.00000

0.00000

0.20000

0.40000

0.60000

0.80000

1.00000

1.20000

1.40000

1.60000

1.80000

2.00000

-0.40000

-2.00000

0.00000

0.20000

0.40000

0.60000

0.80000

1.00000

1.20000

1.40000

1.60000

1.80000

2.00000

2.20000

2.40000

1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 9,000 10,000 11,000 12,000 13,000 14,000 15,000 17,000 18,000 19,000 20,000 21,000 22,000 23,000 24,000 25,000 26,000 27,000 28,000 29,000 30,000 31,000 32,000 33,000 34,000200.0 250.0 300.0 400.0 450.0 500.0 550.0 600.0 650.0 700.0 850.0 900.0 950.0 1,000.0 1,050.0 1,100.0 1,150.0 1,200.0 1,250.0 1,300.0 1,350.0 1,400.0 1,450.0750.0 800.0

16,000

36,000 37,000 38,000 39,000 40,000 41,000 42,000 43,000 44,000 45,000 46,000 47,000 48,000 50,000 51,000 52,000 53,000 54,000 55,000 56,000 57,000 58,000 59,000 60,000 61,000 62,000 64,000 65,000 66,000 67,0002,200.0 2,250.0 2,300.0

49,000 68,000 69,000

North South

350.0 1,500.0 1,550.0 1,600.0 1,650.0 1,700.0 1,750.0 1,800.0 1,850.0 1,900.0 1,950.0 2,000.0 2,050.0 2,100.0 2,150.035,000 36,000

70,0002,900.0 2,950.0 3,000.0 3,050.0 3,100.0 3,150.0 3,200.0 3,250.0 3,300.0 3,350.0 3,400.0 3,450.02,350.0 3,500.0 3,550.0 3,600.0 3,650.0 1,700.0 3,750.0 3,800.0 3,850.0 3,900.0 3,950.0 4,000.0 4,050.0 4,100.02,400.0 2,450.0 2,500.0 2,550.0 2,600.0 2,650.0 2,700.0 2,750.0 2,800.0 2,850.0

63,000

2,200.0

-0.60000

structure in GordonGp limestone

Lake Repulse

0ffset:SP:

TWT

0ffset:SP:

TWT

(a)

(b)

0

kilometres

51

Figure 11a and b. Composite north–south seismic cross-section across Tasmania. Red is basal Parmeener Supergroup unconformity, blue is Lower Parmeener Supergroup (late Carboniferous–Permian), green is Upper Parmeener Supergroup (latest Permian to Triassic), dark orange is Jurassic dolerite, orange is Cenozoic basalt, and light brown is Quaternary sediments. Figure 11 continued on next page.






poor seismic data



"Upper Marine Sequence" horizon truncated by dolerite sill.

base Parmeener unconformity truncated by a fault at SP 500.

undifferentiated Cenozoic faults lie between SP 500 and 575

Parmeener Supergroup has beendown-faulted approximately 1,500 mto the northeast

westernmost half-graben lies betweenSP 500 and SP 975


Intersection Lake Hwy and Poatina Rd

possible anticlinal closure

flat horizonsindicate that theirposition is poorlyconstrained bythe seismic data

anticlinal closure – 2-3 km depth


top basal tillite, top "Lower Marine Sequence" andtop "Lower Freshwater Sequence"

Parmeener Supergroup is~750 m thick.

Location (town, intersection)

Drill Site

Legend:

-0.40000

-2.00000

0.00000

0.20000

0ffset:

0.40000

0.60000

0.80000

1.00000

1.20000

1.40000

1.60000

1.80000

2.00000

2.20000

2.40000

SP:

Poatina

111,000 112,000 113,000 114,000 115,000 116,000 117,000 118,000 119,000 120,000 123,000 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 9,000 13,0006,450.0 6,500.0 6,550.0 6,600.0 6,650.0 6,700.0 6,750.0 6,800.0 6,850.0 6,900.0 7,050.0 7,100.0 7,150.0 200.0 250.06,950.0 7,000

124,0006,350.0

South

350.0 400.0 450.0 500.0 550.0300 650.0 700.06006,400.0 150.0121,000 122,000 10,000 11,000 12,000 14,000

6 Km gap

End ofTB02_BA

Start ofTB01_PG

-0.40000

-2.00000

0.00000

0.20000

0.40000

0.60000

0.80000

1.00000

1.20000

1.40000

1.60000

1.80000

2.00000

2.20000

2.40000

73,000 74,000 75,000 76,000 77,000 78,000 79,000 80,000 81,000 82,000 83,000 85,000 86,000 87,000 88,000 89,000 90,000 91,000 92,000 93,000 94,000 95,000 96,000 97,000 98,000 99,000 100,000 101,000 102,00084,000 103,000 104,000

NorthSouth Waddamana Flinstone

71,000 72,0004,150.0 4,200.0 4,250.0 4,300.0 4,350.0 4,400.0 5,000.0 5,050.0 5,100.0 5,150.0 5,200.0 5,250.0 5,300.0 5,350.0 5,400.0 5,450.0 5,500.0 5,550.04,450.0 5,600.0 5,650.0 5,700.0 5,750.0 5,800.0 5,850.0 5,900.0 5,950.0 6,000.0 6,050.0 6,100.0 6,150.0

6,200.0 6,250.0

4,500.0 4,550.0 4,600.0 4,650.0 4,700.0 4,750.0 4,800.0 4,850.0 4,900.0 4,950.0

6,300.0 6,350.0

105,000

107,000 108,000 109,000 110,000

-0.60000

North East

TWT

0ffset:SP:

TWT

North South West

(c)

(d) (e)

0

kilometres

51

Figure 11c, d and e. Continued from previous page. Composite north–south seismic cross-section across Tasmania. Red is basal Parmeener Supergroup unconformity, blue is Lower Parmeener Supergroup (late Carboniferous–Permian), green is Upper Parmeener Supergroup (latest Permian to Triassic), dark orange is Jurassic dolerite, orange is Cenozoic basalt, and light brown is Qua-ternary sediments. Figure 11 continued on next page.


Figure 11f and g. Continued from previous page. Composite north–south seismic cross-section across Tasmania. Red is basal Parmeener Supergroup unconformity, blue is Lower Parmeener Supergroup (late Carboniferous–Permian), green is Upper Parmeener Supergroup (latest Permian to Triassic), dark orange is Jurassic dolerite, orange is Cenozoic basalt, and light brown is Quaternary sediments.

Deddington Macquarie River AnticlineCenozoic sequence

Cenozoic unconformity

Macquarie Riverfault block

Macquarie Riveranticline

Hummocky Hillsgraben

a half-graben depocentre lies between SP 1,275 and1,750.

seismic Line TB01-PG is 57 km long and lies orthogonal to, and crosses, the major basin boundary faults.

Nile River faultblock

at SP 1,650 m, a large faultdisplaces the baseParmeener unconformityhorizon by 200 m.

reflectors aredominantly linear.

Jurassic dolerite

a. Upper/LowerParmeenerboundary

early Cenozoic faults

westernmost half-graben lies betweenSP 500 and SP 975

35

late Cenozoic fault

Permian unconformity

Cenozoic sequence

between SP 975 and SP 1,275:Jurassic dolerite and TasmaniaBasin comprise a single tiltedblock.

Ross–1(Quoin)Hunterston–1

TB02_BA

Ross

Golden ValleyHagley TB01_PG

Hobart

DeddingtonNile River fault block

Hummocky HillsGraben

Macquarie River faultblock

Poatina

Flinstone

Intersection Highland Lakes Rdand Poatina Rd

Bellevue–1 Waddamana

Victoria ValleyOsterley

Lake Repulse OuseThunderbolt–1

FlorentineLocation (town, intersection)

Drill Site

Legend:

-0.40000

-2.00000

0.00000

0.20000

0ffset:

0.40000

0.60000

0.80000

1.00000

1.20000

1.40000

1.60000

1.80000

2.00000

2.20000

2.40000

SP:21,000 22,000 23,000 24,000 25,000 26,000 27,000 29,000 30,000 31,000 33,000 35,000

950.0 1,000.0 1,050.0 1,100.0 1,150.0 1,200.0 250.0 1,300.0 1,350.0 1,400.0 1,45034,000

South West Hummocky Hills Graben Nile River fault block

1,500.0 1,550.028,000 32,000

Tasmania

North East

36,000 37,000 38,000 39,000 40,000 41,000 42,000 44,000 45,00043,0001,600.0 1,650.0 1,700.0 1,750.0 1,800.0 1,850.0 1,900.0 1,700.0

46,000 47,000 48,0002,000.0 2,050.0700.0 750.0 800.0

Macquarie Riverfault block

850.0 900.015,000 16,000 17,000 19,000 20,000

2,100.0 2,150.0 2,200.0 2,250.0 2,300.048,000 49,000 50,000 51,000 52,000 53,000 54,000

-0.40000

-2.00000

0.00000

0.20000

0ffset:

0.40000

0.60000

0.80000

1.00000

1.20000

1.40000

1.60000

1.80000

2.00000

2.20000

2.40000

SP:

Upper/LowerParmeenerboundary

South West North East

0

kilometres

20 10060

Map Legend:Existing drill sitesProposed drill sites

TWT

TWT

a

b

c

de

fg

(f)

(g)

0

kilometres

51




Stockwell

Butler's Rise

InterlakenSteppes

Macquarie River

Hummocky Hills

Quamby fault block Bracknell Dome Cressy Nile River

Thunderbolt

Bellevue

.

0

Kilometres

5 25

Golden Valley–1

Figure 12. Location of some Gondwanan Petroleum System leads and prospects (Hockfield and Eales, 2013). Blue is leads and prospects, cross-hatched areas are prospects Bellevue and Thunderbolt. Green is part of the EL14/2009 licence boundary, red is former proposed licence boundary application, black is Special Exploration Licence 13/98 licence boundary 2004–09 second five-year term.





Hobart

Bellevue

Land0

100

200

100 0

0Ross–1

Shittim–1Ro: 1:30

Ro: 0.70

Ro: 0.70

0

100

C

T

T

T

C

T

0

Lonnavale–1

Thunderbolt

LFSW (Lower Freshwater Sequence)

BoreholeProspectFaultTasmania Basin

T Tasmanite

CoalC

Ro Isoreflectance

LFSW (Lower Freshwater Sequence)(Reservoir, Lower Permian)

Reservoir LimitIsopach (Woody Island Fm.)(Source, Lower Permian)0

0

kilometres

10040

Legend:

Figure 13. Summary of Gondwanan Petroleum System in Tasmania (Global Exploration Services, 2013).



Triassic coals

Liffey Gp (potential reservoir)

basal Parmeenerunconformity

-0.40000

-0.20000

40,000 41,0000ffset:

South North

42,000 43,000 44,000 45,000 46,000 47,000 48,000 49,000 50,000

1,200.0 1,150.0 1,100.0 1,050.0 1,000.0 950.0 900.0 850.0 800.0

-0.20000

SP:

TWT

0

kilometres

1 5

Figure 14. North–south seismic section TB01-TH, across structure, showing the Quamby prospect within the Gondwanan Petroleum System. See Figure 12 for location and Figure 5 for seismic line location. Liffey-Faulkner Group is Early Permian freshwater sandstones and potential reservoir. The southern part of this section is shown in more detail in Figure 8.




Seismic imaging of the Larapintine Petroleum System

The Larapintine Petroleum System in Tasmania (Bendall et al, 2000) is based on Ordovician black shales and micritic limestones as potential sources, enhanced porosity platform carbonates and coral-stromatoporoid reefs as potential reser-voirs, and Ordovician micrites and Silurian-Devonian shales as seals (Fig. 15). A reef-rimmed carbonate platform is con-firmed in southern Tasmania (Burrett et al, 1981, 1984) and it is likely that the reefs identified on the seismic (Fig. 17) within the Gordon Group carbonates in the east of the Bellevue lead and at the Thunderbolt lead are also close to the platform margin (Fig. 15). There is considerable potential for palaeokarst traps (Fig. 11) beneath the tillites and shales of the basal Parmeener Supergroup unconformity as, in a few places, Gordon Group limestones were karsted in the Devonian, and Devonian cave deposits have been palynologically dated (Seymour et al, 2014). Seal for these potential palaeokarst reservoirs is provided by latest Carboniferous to Asselian tillites and shales, above the unconformity, at the base of the Parmeener Supergroup. Other large Tabberabberan (Devonian) structures, such as the Der-went Bridge Anticline, are evident on the seismic lines (Fig. 10) but need to be defined by cross lines. The Ordovician sequenc-es, fauna and flora are comparable with those in the produc-ing fields of the Tarim Basin of northwest China (Bendall et al, 2000; Li, 1995), which was also part of Greater Gondwana in the Ordovician and connected by shallow seas to the Larapintine Seaway of central Australia (Burrett et al, 1990).

POTENTIAL OR PROSPECTIVE RESOURCES

The estimated mean undiscovered potential resource (or estimated undiscovered prospective resource) of the Larapin-tine and Gondwanan petroleum system structures have been independently evaluated by RPS Energy (2008, 2009), Odedra et al (2013) and Hockfield and Eales (2013), and summarised in Tables 2 and 3. Volumetrics were calculated using Kingdom Suite software and a range of likely porosity and permeability scenarios were input into standard petroleum industry soft-ware. For resource definitions, Empire’s external consultants used definitions and guidelines set out in the Petroleum Re-sources Management System prepared by the Oil and Gas Re-serves Committee of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (Soci-ety of Petroleum Engineers, 2007). These have been used along with London Stock Exchange Alternative Investments Market (AIM) guidelines (London Stock Exchange, 2009) and Austra-lian Stock Exchange Disclosure Rules (2012).

Fault traps and relatively small anticlinal traps within the Gondwanan Petroleum System contain an estimated mean un-discovered potential resource (or best estimate undiscovered prospective resource) of 221.8 MMBOE (RPS Energy 2008, 2009) or 144.7 MMBOE (Hockfield and Eales, 2013). The two large anticlinal structures (Bellevue and Thunderbolt prospects, see Fig. 12 for localities) have, so far, been seismically delineated in the Larapintine Petroleum System and are estimated to have a mean undiscovered potential resource (or best estimate pro-spective resource) of 447 MMBOE (RPS Energy 2008, 2009) or 452 MMBOE (Odedra et al, 2013). The total estimated mean undiscovered potential resource (or best estimates of undis-covered prospective resource) in structures seismically identi-fied by Empire are 668.8 MMBOE (RPS Energy, 2008, 2009) and 596.9 MMBOE (Hockfield and Eales, 2013; Odedra et al, 2013).

Figure 15. Larapintine Petroleum System onshore Tasmania summary (Global Exploration Services, 2013). Maturity based on conodont geothermometry (Burrett, 1992).





TZ 3

TZ 4

-0.25000

0ffset: 10,000

3,800.0 3,700.0SP:

0 20,000 30,000

3,600.0 3,500.0 3,400.0 3,300.0 3,200.0 3,100.0 3,000.0 2,900.0 2,800.0 2,700.0 2,600.0 2,500.0 2,400.0

0.00000

0.25000

0.50000

0.75000

1.0000

1.25000

1.50000

1.75000

2.00000

2.25000

2.50000

2.75000

3.00000

3.25000

3.50000

3.75000

4.00000

4.25000

T W

T

0

kilometres

51

Great Lake

SteppesMiena

Bothwell

LakeEcho

Figure 16. Bellevue prospect. Note irregularity of base-Parmeener unconformity shown as red line (Blackburn, 2004). Part of seismic line TB01-PB. See Figure 12 for location and Figure 5 for seismic line location.

272malready drilled

@1,400m

@2,450m

To: 2,600m

Jurassic dolerite sheet

Eldon Group

Gordon Group

basal Parmeenerunconformity

Top OrdovicianHorizon

Middle OrdovicianHorizon

Top UpperLimestone MemberReservoir

Top Lower LimestoneMember Reservoir

@850m Early Permian reservoir

LateOrdovicianreef

0kilometres

2.00.5 1.0

-0.40000

-0.20000

0.00000

0.20000

0.40000

0.80000

0.60000

1.00000

1.20000

1.40000

1.60000

0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 7,000 8,000 9,000 10,0006,0000ffsetmetres

West East

Bellevue–2Bellevue–1

TWT

Figure 17. Seismic section TB02b-BQ of Bellevue prospect showing interpreted Ordovician reservoirs and coral-stromatoporoid reef reservoir in the Gordon Group limestone (Global Exploration Services, 2013). Bellevue–1 was drilled to 272m; Bellevue–2 is planned. See Figure 12 for location and Figure 5 for seismic line location.




0 4 82 6

kilometres

low case P90

best case P50

high case P10

maximum case

Bellevue–1

Bellevue–2

Figure 18. Seismic two-way time (TWT) map of Bellevue prospect (Odedra et al, 2013). Bellevue–1 was cased and cemented to 234 m; Bellevue–2 is planned. See Figure 12 for location and Figure 5 for seismic line location.





pre-

Parm

eene

run

confo

rmity

uppe

r lime

stone

mar

ker

lower

limes

tone m

arke

r

uppe

r lime

stone

mar

ker

lower

limes

tone m

arke

r

pre-

Parm

eene

run

confo

rmity

East

Line T

B02_

BAW

est

North

South

Line T

B02b

_HB

0 kilom

etres

51

TWT

TWT

Figu

re 1

9. Se

ismic

secti

on TB

02-B

A an

d TB0

2b-H

B of

the T

hund

erbo

lt pr

ospe

ct (O

dedr

a et a

l, 201

3). S

ee Fi

gure

5 fo

r loc

ality

and F

igur

e 12 f

or se

ismic

line l

ocat

ions.



0 1,200 2,400600 1,800 3,000metres

Line TB02b_HB

Line TB02b_HB

Line TB02b_HB

Thunderbolt–1

BFigure 20. Seismic TWT map of the Thunderbolt prospect (Odedra et al, 2013). Position of the planned well Thunderbolt–1 is shown. See Figure 12 for location and Figure 5 for seismic line localities.


Prospect/lead Low estimate (P90) Best estimate (P50) High estimate (P10) Mean Bellevue Upper 38 151 484 220Bellevue Lower 24 95 307 139

Thunderbolt 12 53 198 88Bracknell Dome 3 18 90 37

Butler’s Rise 2 14 63 25Interlaken 2 10 40 17

Cressy 3 12 48 21Hummocky Hills 5 30 138 58Macquarie River 3.5 13.1 42.4 19.7

Nile River 3.5 13.1 42.4 19.7Quamby 0.4 1.5 5.0 2.3Steppes 2.0 7.4 24.0 11.1Stockwell 2.0 7.4 23.6 11.0

Total (MMBOE) 100.4 425.5 1,505.4 668.8

Table 2. Prospective Undiscovered Resources Assessment for Licence SEL13/98. See Figure 12 for localities of leads and prospects. Units are in MMBOE.

Source: RPS Energy (2008).



CONCLUSIONS

Despite considerable scepticism from many in the Austra-lian geoscience community, the Vibroseis reflection seismic technique may be used effectively in Tasmania. Four Vibroseis trucks were used with a frequency range of 6–140 Hz and full frequency sweeps close together achieved maximum input and return signal. Numerous structures have been interpreted on the seismic sections. In particular, the faults near the junction of the Western and Eastern Tasmanian terranes define a broad belt of reactivated faults rather than a simple lineament. Reac-tivation from thrust to normal to transcurrent movement was probably due to the changing Australian plate stress regime act-ing on the margins of crustal blocks with differing rheological properties (Muller et al, 2012). The Western Tasmanian Terrane has a rheologically stronger crust underlain by thick and rigid Precambrian, whereas the Eastern Tasmanian Terrane consists of more easily deformed Mathinna Group turbidites overlying dense, probably oceanic, crust (Rawlinson et al, 2006). The ter-rane marginal fault belt is coincident with surface water iodine anomalies, suggesting that petroleum basin brines have leaked from depth. Elsewhere in the Tasmania Basin, a study of fault shale smear factor by Collings (2007) has shown that less com-plex normal faults are mostly impermeable and are unlikely to have significantly breached most potential reservoirs. Wide-spread Middle Permian shales and a near-continuous Jurassic dolerite sheet provide effective regional seals across central Tas-mania. Because of its very low molecular size, the high values of helium in the C1-C8 gas beneath the dolerite in the Shittim–1 well confirms the excellent seal characteristics of the dolerite (Bendall et al, 2000).

Fault traps and relatively small anticlinal traps within the Gondwanan Petroleum System contain an estimated mean undiscovered potential resource (or best estimate prospec-tive resource) of 221.8 MMBOE (RPS Energy, 2008, 2009) or 144.7 MMBOE (Hockfield and Eales, 2013). The two large anticlinal structures (Bellevue and Thunderbolt leads), so far seismically delineated in the Larapintine Petroleum Sys-tem, are estimated to have a potential undiscovered mean resource (or best estimate prospective resource) of 447 MM-

BOE (RPS Energy, 2008, 2009) or 452 MMBOE (Odedra et al, 2013). Total estimates of mean undiscovered potential resource (or best estimate prospective resource) in structures seismically identified by Empire are 668.8 MMBOE (RPS En-ergy, 2008, 2009) and 596.9 MMBOE (Hockfield and Eales, 2013; Odedra et al, 2013). These resource estimates shown in Tables 2 and 3 are based on the structures identified on the limited seismic surveys carried out so far, and there is con-siderable potential for the discovery of many more structures in future seismic surveys within both onshore and offshore Tasmania.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are indebted to the Right Honourable Sena-tor Eric Abetz for help and encouragement. Empire Energy Corporation International and its predecessor and subsidiary companies are indebted to their US and Australian auditors for their careful auditing of exploration expenditure. Funding through the Australian Federal Government ARC/SPIRT (Aus-tralian Research Council/Strategic Partnerships with Industry-Research and Training) scheme is gratefully acknowledged. The authors thank Ardilaun Energy for commissioning and financ-ing the preparation of this paper, and thank John McKeon, Su-san McKeon, Mark Pearson, Eoin Ryan, Cathal Jones and Karl Prenderville who provided substantial support.

The first draft of this paper was considerably improved fol-lowing the constructive comments of the APPEA reviewers.

Empire gratefully acknowledges the support of all its share-holders and stakeholders.

The authors are indebted to the staff of the South Australian Department of Mines, particularly Bob Laws and David Grave-stock, for their professional advice since 1987.

Dick Hancock is acknowledged for his help on a blow-out at Shittim–1 on Bruny Island, which took three days to bring under control and necessitated the emergency import of blow-out control experts from the US, along with wellhead control equipment provided by Joel Bodin. Shittim–1 was later successfully induced and flow-tested, and sampled by drill-ing engineer Ted McNally of Pectil Engineering. The results


Prospect/Lead Low Estimate (P90)

Best Estimate (P50)

High Estimate (P10) Mean

Bellevue (Larapintine-Ordovician and Silurian) 23.3 159.5 973.3 403.2Thunderbolt (Larapintine-Ordovician and Silurian) 2.2 16.7 115 49

Bellevue and Thunderbolt (Gondwanan-Permian Triassic) 2.2 11.8 62.2 25.7Bracknell Dome 1.5 5 15 7

Butler’s Rise 1.3 6 28 12Interlaken 1.5 8 45 18

Cressy 1.3 6 26 11Hummocky Hills 1.5 8 46 19Macquarie River 1.5 8 45 18

Nile River 1.2 5 24 10Quamby 0.9 3 8 4Steppes 1.2 5 22 10Stockwell 1.2 5 24 10

Total (MMBOE) 40.8 247.0 1,433.5 596.9

Table 3. Prospective Undiscovered Resources Assessment for Licences EL14/2009 and EL30/2011. See Figure 12 for localities of leads and prospects. Units are in MMBOE.

Source: Hockfield and Eales (2013).



from Pectil Engineering proved the production at 120 psi of helium, thermogenic dry gas, thermogenic wet gas and green crude oil.

Greg Blackburn, Diego Gonzalez, Dave Leaman, Mike Swift, Paul Lane, and the staff of Senergy (GB) Ltd contributed to seismic interpretations. Emilia Mlynarczyk and King Peeranut helped with drafting.

The following people provided considerable advice, help and support: Mohammed Adabi, Rob Allen, Zohreh Amini, Julian Amos, Rob Annals, Alan Barnett, Ramsay Barrett, Shane Bartel, Paul Batista, David, Derek, Lloyd, Marcus and Tim Bendall, Ron Berry, Ralph Bottrill, Graham Bradshaw, Shelley Brooks, Ian Buckingham, Murray Chambers, Nicole Chesterman, Clive Cal-ver, Alan Chester, David Close, Ann Cole-Cook, Tony Collings, Bill Conley, Steven Cummins, Noel Davies, Audrey Devereaux, Bibi-ana, Georgia, Genevieve and Graeme Devlin, Eugene Domack, David Dunsby, Michael Dyson, Ed Eshuys, John Esmyer, Bob Findlay, Steve Forsyth, Christopher Foster, Mac Foster, John Gar-rison, Damian Geason, Todd Goebel, Roger Groom, Rick Halkett, Don Hazell, Izzy Hertzog, Rick Hine, Michael Hodgman, Darren Holden, Phil Honey, Andy Horbach, Lucas Jacometti, John Kaldi, Ingvar Karlsson, Dean Lisson, Michael Laski, Tara Ledbetter, Ka-monwan Mesa, Simon Lee, Bill Keating, Christina Mitsakis, Jack Mulready, Gerry Murrell, Michael O’Keefe, Rob Osborn, Steve Powell, Brian and Graeme Rau, Catherine Reid, Russell Reid, Bob Richardson, Kerry Richardson, Ingvar J. Karlson, Reid Simon, Phil Simpson, Charlie Sulzberger, Gerald, Kieren and Simon Spaulding, Alan Steele, Emily Swaffer, Rod Tabor, Dave Tanner, Steve Tobin, Mario Traviati, David Villareal, John Volkman, Roy Waldron, Dave West, Robert Young and Jo Zantuck.

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Authors' biographies next page.



Malcolm Bendall has had more than 35 years’ experience in investigating petroleum systems as well as in the in-vestigation of the viability of petroleum resources in Tasmania.

Malcolm presently serves as a Direc-tor and Chief Executive Officer of the US publicly traded company Empire Energy Corporation International and its

subsidiaries. His previous responsibilities have included direct-ing exploration activities across SEL13/98 and EL14/2009, in central Tasmania, Australia. Malcolm also manages employees around Australia, the US and UK, ensures financial and legal compliance with both US and Australian law, and continues to direct international fundraising for Empire and its subsidiaries.

Malcolm has worked in a variety of geological capacities, including mine manager, field supervisor and drilling supervi-sor (among others) for companies including BHP Exploration, Amoco Minerals, Renison Goldfields and Pasminco.

During the past 14 years, Malcolm has raised in excess of $110 million for oil and gas and mineral exploration in Tasma-nia, and has served in a management capacity for eight pub-licly traded mineral and petroleum exploration companies.

He is published in four international petroleum journals, is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and was named Tasmanian Businessman of the Year in 1989.

[email protected]

THE AUTHORS

Clive Burrett taught geology at the Uni-versity of Tasmania from 1970 to 2006, and was Head of the School of Earth Sciences from 1997–2002. He graduated with a BSc (Hons) from the University of London, and has a PhD from the Univer-sity of Tasmania.

Clive is a Fellow of the Geological Society of Australia. He is an expert on

the geology of Tasmania, Southeast Asia and China. Clive has supervised many graduate theses on the geology and resources of Southeast Asia and Australia, and consulted to numerous resource companies in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Australia.

Clive is now based in the Palaeontological Research and Education Centre at Mahasarakham University in Thailand, working on the palaeontology, geology and tectonics of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries.

[email protected]

Paul Heath has more than 14 years’ experience as a geologist and Chief Operations Officer, with a strong back-ground in stakeholder management for both base metal deposits and oil and gas in Australia.

Paul has worked on mining and ex-ploration projects in their early stages of development through to those in

pre-production, including the coordination and development of exploration work programs with the relevant government agencies, landowners and expert sub-consultants.

Paul has had considerable exposure to international busi-ness and liaised with companies in Europe, Asia and America, including being directly involved in business developments such as listing on international stock exchanges (US Nasdaq and London Alternative Investments Market), capital raising and directly liaising with shareholders.

Paul has a BSc (Hons) degree from the University of Tasmania. Member: Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

(AusIMM)[email protected]

Andrew Stacey is a petroleum geologist with more than 10 years’ experience in academia and government. Most recent-ly, Andrew was employed by Geoscience Australia where he was responsible for building organisational capability in un-conventional hydrocarbons. Prior to that Andrew investigated the conventional prospectivity of Australia’s southern

margin. Andrew holds a PhD from the University of Tasmania. Member: Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia (PESA), American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), and Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).

[email protected]

Enzo Zappaterra is a certified petroleum geologist with broad international experience gained through many years of active oil and gas exploration with Chevron and its affiliates in many of the world’s oil ba-sins (Europe, Africa, South America and Asia) in a variety of positions, including management. Since 2002 Dr Zappaterra has been New Ventures Director of Global Exploration Services (GES), a leading UK-based independent company providing worldwide consulting services on international petroleum exploration and on regional evaluation of business opportunities, by capitalising on personal knowledge and expertise.

[email protected], [email protected]

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