Publication Name: The Sedimentary Basins of WA
Authors: P.G. and R.R. Purcell
Publication Volume: 1
Date Published: July 1994
Number of Pages: 27
Reference Type: Book Section
Abstract:
Western Australia is one of six federated sovereign States within the Commonwealth of Australia. It covers an onshore area of over 2 500 000 km2, almost one-third of the Australian mainland, and is one of the largestpolitical units in the world. The Phanerozoic sedimentary basins of Western Australia cover about one million square kilometres of the land area and underlie most of the continental shelf and slope. There are five main basins for petroleum exploration- the Bonaparte, Canning, Carnarvon, Officer and Perth. Oil and gas have been discovered in all except the Officer Basin. Smaller basins, including the Eucla Basin, are not considered prospective for petroleum. The small Collie Basin contains inportant coal deposits.
West Australia's first commercial oil production was in 1967 from the Barrow Island Oil Field in the offshore Carnarvon Basin. Several giant gas fields, including North Rankin, were discovered in the Carnarvon and Browse basins in the early 1970s. Exploration in the 1980s led to major oil and gas discoveries in the Carnarvon and Bonaparte basins, and smaller discoveries in the Perth and Canning basins.
Western Australia is poised to become Australia's premier hydrocarbon-producing State. By the mid 1990s, production will reach 350 000 BOPD and surpass output from Victoria's Gippsland Basin. Western Australia's
sedimentary basins contain an estimated 45 percent of the nation's current oil reserves, 78 percent of the condensate reserves, and 80 percent of the gas reserves. Current gas reserves can sustain current production
levels for 150 years, and will be a major component of the State's welfare and development in the 21st century.
Oil production rates will decline markedly after about 1996 and future discoveries are an imperative for the
nation's self-sufficiency. The best hope for those discoveries are in the Western Australian basins, particularly on the North West Shelf.