Australian Onshore Unconventional Hydrocarbon Exploration History

Geoscience Australia's publication details the history and renewed focus on unconventional hydrocarbon exploration in Australia's onshore Paleozoic and Proterozoic basins. It covers exploration efforts from the 1960s to 2013, including discoveries like the Mereenie oil field and Blina. The work was presented at the APPEA Conference in 2013.

Use Cases

• Analyze exploration trends by comparing onshore basin license area changes from 2010 to 2012.
• Study the geological context of specific discoveries like the Mereenie field in Ordovician rocks or Blina in Devonian carbonates.
• Assess the shift in exploration focus from offshore Mesozoic basins back to onshore shale and tight gas potential.

Strengths

• Provides a detailed historical narrative covering exploration from the 1960s to 2013.
• Cites specific geological basins (Amadeus, Canning, Georgina) and rock formations (Ordovician, Devonian).
• References collaboration between Geoscience Australia and state/NT survey partners.

Limitations

• Dataset consists of a conference abstract and presentation (HTML/PDF), not structured data with rows and columns.
• No quantitative data tables, sample data, or defined data fields are provided in the description.
• Information is temporally limited, with the latest cited activity from 2013.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia and partners in state and Northern Territory surveys.

Collection Method

Geological assessment and historical analysis compiled for a conference presentation.

Time Range

Historical coverage from 1960s to 2013, with specific focus on activity from late 1980s onward.

Freshness

null

Geography

Australia, focusing on onshore basins including Amadeus, Canning, and Georgina Basins.