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Geochemical characteristics of hydrocarbon families and petroleum systems, Bonaparte Basin

Created 12/02/2026

Updated 12/02/2026

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The Vulcan Sub-basin has been actively explored for over twenty years, with oil production from the Jabiru and Challis-Cassini fields, and the depleted Skua Field, all of which were sourced by the Upper Jurassic Lower Vulcan Formation within the Swan Graben. The need to discover other oil-prone petroleum systems led to this study focussing on oils that have a different composition to those of the aforementioned oils. Geochemical analyses (bulk and compound-specific isotopes, GC and GC-MS of saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons) have characterised the Vulcan Sub-basin oils and condensates into three families (Fig 1); a marine oil family (with some terrigenous influence) comprising Jabiru, Challis, Skua, Talbot and Tenacious; a terrestrially-influenced oil family comprising Maret, Montara, Padthaway and Bilyara which have more varied geochemistry; and, a family of condensates from Tahbilk, Swan and Eclipse. The composition of these condensates is more reflective of reservoir alteration effects (such as leakage and gas flushing) than the type of organic matter in their source rocks. The terrestrially-influenced oil family is located in the southernmost part of the Vulcan Sub-basin and in the northern Browse Basin, most probably having being source from the Lower-Middle Jurassic Plover Formation. The Plover Formation contains liquid-prone source rocks within the Skua Trough, albeit immature for hydrocarbon generation. Similar source rocks are believed to occur beneath the Swan and Paqualin grabens since oils with mixed composition are found at Puffin, Pituri and Oliver.

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Field Value
Title Geochemical characteristics of hydrocarbon families and petroleum systems, Bonaparte Basin
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/170e4780-b218-4918-a3a2-fb4cc4a5998d
Contact Point
Australian Ocean Data Network
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 20/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
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Data Portal Australian Oceans Data Network

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Australian Oceans Data Network "Geochemical characteristics of hydrocarbon families and petroleum systems, Bonaparte Basin". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://catalogue.aodn.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/geochemical-characteristics-of-hydrocarbon-families-and-petroleum-systems-bonaparte-basin6