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Does the Phoenix South 1 oil represent an extension of the Lower Triassic petroleum system of the Perth Basin?

Created 16/10/2025

Updated 16/10/2025

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In 2014, the surprise discovery of oil in the well Phoenix South 1 on Australia’s North West Shelf (NWS) heralded the Bedout Sub-basin as Australia’s new petroleum province. The well had initially targeted gas in Triassic reservoirs of the Keraudren Formation and Locker Shale but unexpectedly encountered oil instead. This has fuelled a revival of exploration in the area with subsequent wells Roc 1, Roc 2, Phoenix South 2 and Dorado 1 all successful in penetrating hydrocarbon columns. The Phoenix South 1 accumulation is significant as it demonstrates the occurrence of an effective oil-prone source rock within the Lower–Middle Triassic for the first time on the NWS. It also raised the possibility that a source rock analogue to the Hovea Member of the Lopingian–Lower Triassic Kockatea Shale, a well-established source of oil and gas in the northern Perth Basin, may also be effective on the NWS. In order to understand the origin of the Phoenix South 1 accumulation, its geochemical composition was compared to those of Triassic-sourced oils from the Perth Basin and petroleum fluids from the neighbouring Browse Basin, and Beagle and Dampier sub-basins.

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Field Value
Title Does the Phoenix South 1 oil represent an extension of the Lower Triassic petroleum system of the Perth Basin?
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/en/dataset/e437fc4b-2eef-495d-b54b-7196fa82b0f8
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 04/05/2018
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
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        117.1055,
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      ],
      [
        127.6523,
        -20.4682
      ],
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        -10.8333
      ],
      [
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      ],
      [
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      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Geoscience Australia

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Geoscience Australia "Does the Phoenix South 1 oil represent an extension of the Lower Triassic petroleum system of the Perth Basin?". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/does-the-phoenix-south-1-oil-represent-an-extension-of-the-lower-triassic-petroleum-system-of-t