PEABODY, WILLIAM W.¹, STEPHEN G. STOUFFER², and W. WALLACE BAYNE^3
1GeoVentures, Santa Fe, NM
²Stouffer Geophysical Services, Tulsa, OK
³Burlington Resources, Farmington, NM

Abstract: Proterozoic Prospects in Australia's Beetaloo Basin, NT

The Beetaloo basin in Australia's Northern Territory, a part of the extensive Proterozoic McArthur basin, has recently undergone an extensive review. Re-processing of basin-wide seismic data has led to a clearer understanding of the basin's southern margin and the internal geometry of the basin as a whole.

It is widely accepted that Middle and Upper Proterozoic shales can, and do, host indigenous, live, hydrocarbons. Favorable Proterozoic source and reservoir units extend throughout the Beetaloo basin and are buried at moderate depths. Traps are varied, occurring as anticlines, zones of truncation, and as thick (100 m+), fractured "source/reservoir" zones of considerable areal extent.

The northward migration of the Australian Plate from mid-Tertiary times and the impingement of this plate against the various parts of the Pacific Plate assemblage have played a role both in trap formation and, probably, in the mobilization and migration of hydrocarbons. Present drilling techniques coupled with advances in seismic data acquisition and processing make the Beetaloo basin an attractive area within which to explore for large reserves of gas and oil.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90928©1999 AAPG Annual Convention, San Antonio, Texas