Australian Petroleum Geochemistry Data from Source Rocks, Oils, and Gases

Geoscience Australia's organic geochemistry database contains analytical results for petroleum exploration samples, including source rocks, crude oils, and natural gases collected across Australia. The data, produced by techniques like programmed pyrolysis and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, enables typing petroleum fluids and correlating them to source rocks for mapping total petroleum systems.

Use Cases

• Correlate crude oils to source rocks using biomarker and stable carbon isotope data to determine migration distances.
• Type natural gases into families based on molecular and isotopic content from GC and GC-TC-IRMS analyses.
• Evaluate source rock maturity and depositional environment using bulk compositional data from pyrolysis and organic petrology.
• Map total petroleum system extent by integrating analytical results from source rocks, oils, and gases across the Australian continent.

Strengths

• Data originates from a national authority, Geoscience Australia, and its predecessor organizations.
• Includes samples from industry submissions under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 and from government geological programs.
• Analytical results cover multiple sample types (source rocks, crude oils, natural gases) and techniques (pyrolysis, GCMS, isotopic analysis).

Limitations

• Specific quantitative metrics like row count, column count, and dataset size are unknown.
• Sample data originates from multiple sources over decades, potentially introducing format and consistency variations.
• Primary file format is HTML, which may not be optimal for direct analytical use without extraction and structuring.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia and its predecessor organizations (AGSO, BMR), state/territory geological organizations, petroleum industry submissions, and open file publications.

Collection Method

Analytical results generated from Geoscience Australia laboratories and compiled from industry reports, government sampling programs, and published literature.

Time Range

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Freshness

Last updated March 2026.

Geography

Samples collected across the Australian continent.