Beetaloo Basin, Australia: southern equivalents of Marcellus, Haynesville and Barnett?
Drilling Activity Details
Drilling Activity Summary
Description
The Beetaloo Basin in Northern Territory, Australia, could be the next sweet spot for unconventional and conventional hydrocarbon production. The basin's attributes: It's a multimillion-acre site in a politically and economically stable country, with existing pipeline access, currently estimated recoverable resources of 19 billion barrels of oil and 64 trillion cubic feet of gas at depths between 5,000-8,500 feet, and energy-hungry neighbors - China, India, Japan and South Korea. Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. of Denver, the sole operator of more than 7 million acres under license in the remote basin, is in the process of proving that the Kyalla and Velkerri shales are Southern Hemisphere rivals to Marcellus, Haynesville and Barnett shales. The high total-organic-content shales, Kyalla (at about 5,000 feet) and Velkerri (at about 8,500 feet), are typically 2,600 feet thick across the basin. The shales are separated by a possible conventional formation, the Moroak sandstone, which is more than 1,000 feet thick and has conventional porosity and low-permeability intervals. Testing will begin in 2010, after the rainy season, in a previously drilled exploration well, #1 Shenandoah. Falcon geologists are analyzing core samples from mining operations that used to dominate the resource-rich Australian state.
The Beetaloo Basin in Northern Territory, Australia, could be the next sweet spot for unconventional and conventional hydrocarbon production. The basin's attributes: It's a multimillion-acre site in a politically and economically stable country, with existing pipeline access, currently estimated recoverable resources of 19 billion barrels of oil and 64 trillion cubic feet of gas at depths between 5,000-8,500 feet, and energy-hungry neighbors - China, India, Japan and South Korea. Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. of Denver, the sole operator of more than 7 million acres under license in the remote basin, is in the process of proving that the Kyalla and Velkerri shales are Southern Hemisphere rivals to Marcellus, Haynesville and Barnett shales. The high total-organic-content shales, Kyalla (at about 5,000 feet) and Velkerri (at about 8,500 feet), are typically 2,600 feet thick across the basin. The shales are separated by a possible conventional formation, the Moroak sandstone, which is more than 1,000 feet thick and has conventional porosity and low-permeability intervals. Testing will begin in 2010, after the rainy season, in a previously drilled exploration well, #1 Shenandoah. Falcon geologists are analyzing core samples from mining operations that used to dominate the resource-rich Australian state.