Georgina Basin - Northern Territory, Australia
The Georgina Basin, which covers most of the central-eastern part of the Northern Territory, is one of the most prospective undeveloped onshore petroleum provinces in the Northern Territory. Rodinia has the right to earn up to a 60% working interest in approximately 22,260 km2 (5.5 million acres).
The basin is one of several large intracratonic basins found in central Australia that are filled mainly with Paleozoic and Precambrian sediments (about 1,000-5,000 metres thick). Intracratonic basins are worldwide in occurrence and are normally found within continental interiors and away from plate boundaries. Other well-known intracratonic basins are the highly productive Williston Basin (located in North Dakota, Montana and Saskatchewan) and the Parana Basin in South America. Both the Williston and the Georgina Basin areas contain massive source rocks. The Cambrian strata of the Arthur Creek (Georgina Basin) is considered to be similar to the Mississippian succession of Western Canada that has produced more than ten tcf of gas and one billion bbls of oil.
There is no current or historic hydrocarbon production in the Georgina Basin, and the minimal exploration activities to date have been related to the identification of minerals. 18 wells have been drilled in this area and none tested valid structural closures. With only 750 km of 2D seismic data covering a prospective area of over 100,000 km2, exploration efforts in this area are in the earliest stage.
Although the Georgina Basin has not had a discovery to date, the location of the basin, and information from the limited exploration work conducted in the past, including 2D seismic data, suggest the presence of active Cambrian era petroleum systems in the region with oil-mature source rocks and reservoirs occurring at shallow depths. The region is believed to have all of the prerequisites needed for oil and gas entrapment, migration and production. Individual trapping situations in the Georgina Basin are estimated to hold up to 230 million boe in place at depths of 300 to 900 metres.
Approximately 90% of the Northern Territory's prospective onshore basins are currently under license or application, compared to less than 10% a few years ago. The significant increase in land area under license or application suggests a growing interest in the area among exploration and producing companies. The Northern Territory government is supportive of exploration initiatives and it is expected that infrastructure will be improved as exploration growth continues.
Ryder Scott Company Petroleum Consultants independent evaluation of the hydrocarbon potential of the Georgina Basin states:
The Cambrian Thorntonia-Arthur Creek succession of the Georgina Basin possess all the required elements necessary for petroleum generation, migration and entrapment. All these elements are is believed to be found EP 103 and EP 104. Currently there is no production from the Georgina Basin, however analogous production occurs in the Amadeus Basin to the west and in other, similar, setting found elsewhere in the world. Structural leads within, and close to, Blocks EP 103 and EP 104 indicated closures covering between 6 and 130 km2. This suggests a potential range of individual pool and field sizes of between 4.2 x 106m3 (26.4 mmbo) and 91 106m3 (571.5 mmbo) of oil-in-place.
It should again be emphasized that these projects are high risk exploration plays and no commercial hydrocarbons have been discovered to date on any of Rodinia's prospects and there is no assurance any commercial hydrocarbons will be discovered as a result of Rodinia's proposed exploration activities.