PESA ACT/NSW Christmas Party
Tuesday, 10 December @ 12:00 pm - 2:30 pm (Australia/Sydney time)
$20.00 – $50.00
Guest Speaker(s): Dennis Morton
Mr Morton is a geologist with over 45 years experience in the management of oil and gas companies. He is currently the Managing Director of ASX listed company Gas2Grid Limited (2008- 2023) with current and past assets in Australia, NZ, Philippines and France.
Mr Morton is also Executive Chairman of ASX listed Jade Has Holdings Limited a company with extensive rights to Permian age coal seam gas assets in southern Mongolia including Tavantolgoi, Shivee Gobi and Eastern Gobi.
Mr Morton was a founder and CEO and Managing Director of ASX listed Eastern Star Gas Limited (2000-2007). The Company’s assets included coal seam gas and conventional petroleum projects at Narrabri and elsewhere in NSW and also in Victoria.
Mr Morton was also a founder and major shareholder of SAPEX Limited, which listed on the ASX in 2006 and merged with ASX listed Linc Energy in 2008. Prior to his role at Eastern Star Gas, Mr Morton worked for companies including Eastern Energy Australia Pty Ltd, Hartogen Group of Companies and Esso/Exxon where his roles traversed technical and management capacities across most Australian oil and gas basins, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea and onshore USA.
Mr Morton holds a Bachelor of Arts – Geology with First Class Honours in 1974 from the Macquarie University, Sydney.
PESA NSW & SPE NSW Christmas Party
PHILIPPINES GEOLOGY AND PETROLEUM POTENTIAL
The petroleum potential of the Philippines has long been regarded by “industry experts” as
average at best. The Philippines is a country with active crustal plate movements,
subduction zones, regional wrench faults and active volcanoes located on the western edge
of the Circum-Pacific “Ring of Fire”.
Geologically, the Philippines is the eastern rifted edge of Asia, which was initially separated
by rifting and the development of the South China Sea commencing in the Eocene. Initial
rifting resulted in the deposition of an Eocene clastic section, dominantly non-marine with
extensive coal development.
The appearance of oceanic crust in the late Oligocene initiated the drift phase with
development of extensive barrier and pinnacle limestone reefs on the upthrown sides of the
large normal faults created by rifting. These Oligocene to Early Miocene reefs created the
reservoir for many of the large gas fields discovered to date, eg Malampaya, which largely
sourced the gas from the underlying coal measures.
About 10 million years ago the Asian, Pacific and Australian crustal plates collided creating
compression, subduction, regional wrench faults and volcanism. This tectonic activity caused
regional uplift, particularly in the west of the Philippines centred on east Palawan and
deposition of Early-Mid Miocene sedimentary deposits, dominated by an extensive deep
water marine clastic section with excellent quality sandstone reservoirs. Waxy oils waxy with
associated gas are the main hydrocarbon discoveries. These hydrocarbons have been
sourced by both marine and non-marine organic matter.
The Late Miocene to present day sedimentary section is dominated by a thick section of
marine marls and limestone reefs with associated volcanism adjacent areas of plate to
subduction.
The Tertiary to Recent geology of the Philippines is very similar to that recorded in
Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and parts of offshore China.
The Philippines experienced extensive petroleum exploration in the 1960s but concerted
exploration efforts since then have been patchy. Whilst trap integrity is considered the main
exploration risk, there is still excellent potential for oil and gas discoveries of significant size.
Gas2Grid Limited has been active with onshore petroleum exploration in the Philippines
since 2005 and the author since 1981.
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