Assessment of Undiscovered Petroleum Resources by the Bureau of Mineral Resources, Australia

• Published in: Energy sources 1992-04, Vol.14 (2), p.183-203
• Main Authors: FORMAN, DAVID J., HINDE, ALAN L., RADLINSKI, ANDRZEJ P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 02 PETROLEUM; 020200 - Petroleum- Reserves, Geology, & Exploration; 294002 - Energy Planning & Policy- Petroleum; Applied sciences; AUSTRALASIA; AUSTRALIA; Crude oil, natural gas and petroleum products; DATA; DATA BASE MANAGEMENT; DATA COMPILATION; DEVELOPED COUNTRIES; DRILLING; Energy; ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY AND ECONOMY; ENERGY SOURCES; Exact sciences and technology; FOSSIL FUELS; FUELS; GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS; GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES; GEOLOGIC SURVEYS; GEOLOGY; Geology and geochemistry. Geological and geochemical prospecting. Petroliferous series; INFORMATION; MANAGEMENT; MINERAL RESOURCES; OIL FIELDS; PETROLEUM; PETROLEUM DEPOSITS; PETROLEUM GEOLOGY; Petroleum plays; petroleum resource assessment method; PLANNING; Prospecting and exploration; Prospecting and production of crude oil, natural gas, oil shales and tar sands; RESOURCE ASSESSMENT; RESOURCES; SEDIMENTARY BASINS; SURVEYS; undiscovered petroleum; VISCOSITY; WELL DRILLING
• ISSN: 0090-8312; 1521-0510
• DOI: 10.1080/00908319208908719

Petroleum resource assessment begins with geological study of sedimentary basins and subdivision of the sedimentary sequence and petroleum prospects into plays. Next, information about the plays, the area and geometry of their traps, and the sizes of their accumulations are compiled in a database within the AUSTPLAY program. Some data are sorted, plotted, and analyzed by the program. All data are examined by specialist geoscientists, who interpret the historic trends, select analogues, make quantitative models, and use subjective judgment to determine the information to be used in the assessment. AUSTPLAY simulates drilling each untested trap in each play. It estimates the size of each simulated discovery using estimates of the area of closure and of the resources per unit area of closure of each trap that are input, in order of drilling or discovery, as loglinear models. The program also uses other types of information, such as existence risk, success rate, the proportion of oil to oil and gas, and the smallest size of accumulation to be included as a resource. Assessments of undiscovered oil and gas resources are given as cumulative probability distributions. The information can also be used to estimate future rates of crude oil production.