oa New insights into the Exmouth Sub-basin: Seismic acquisition, processing and imaging

Hydrocarbon exploration in the Exmouth Sub-basin, North West Shelf, Australia, has resulted in the discovery of a variety of oil and gas accumulations mainly in Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous intervals. However, the distribution of the different petroleum system elements, including Jurassic and Triassic intervals, is poorly determined, but required for improved understanding of the complex charge history, as indicated by the variety of hydrocarbon types encountered in the basin.

As illustrated herein, various stages of processing and imaging have provided a more accurately imaged 3D seismic volume covering the entirety of the Exmouth Sub-basin. An increased signal-to-noise ratio for all depths now allows, 1) detailed picking of events within the entire Mesozoic (Cretaceous through to Triassic) section, enabling interpreting and correlating key events across the area, and 2) accurate investigation of the complexity of different aged fault networks and their relationships across the full Exmouth Sub-basin for the first time.

This large-scale multimeasurement survey provides a detailed insight into the deeper basin architecture of the Exmouth Sub-basin. The seamless volume imaged to depth allows accurate mapping which is critical to unravel the complex evolutionary history in a basin with proven and remaining hydrocarbon potential.,