Integrated geological and geochemical studies have demonstrated that mature, rich potential petroleum source rocks and adjacent potential reservoir beds exist in the Middle Proterozoic sequence (1400 - 1800 million years) of the McArthur Basin, Northern Territory.
Standard organic petrographic and geochemical techniques can be used with only minor adaptions, to characterise the organic type and maturation level of the source beds and the likely composition of any derived hydrocarbons.
'Live' oil which was discovered during' stratigraphic drilling to obtain samples for this project provides further evidence of the potential of of this basin.
Potential reservoir units exist at several stratigraphic levels.
The geology and reservoir characteristics of these units in combination with the distribution of potential source beds, timing of hydrocarbon generation, evidence for migration and chances of preservation has been used to rank the prospectivity of various stratigraphic intervals in different parts of the basin.