Play analysis in the Daralingie Shelf area of the Eastern Warburton Basin, South Australia

The Cambrian to Ordovician Warburton Basin lies in northeast South Australia, southernmost Northern Territory and southeast Queensland and covers approximately 400,000 km2. In South Australia, the eastern part underlies the bulk of the hydrocarbon-producing Permian Cooper Basin. The Warburton, like the Cooper, is hydrocarbon-bearing with many shows recorded from a wide variety of lithologies and stratigraphic intervals. The authors conducted an integrated geological and geophysical study of the Eastern Warburton Basin, providing new insights into the basin stratigraphy, evolution and prospectivity for hydrocarbons. Regional gross depositional environment (GDE) maps were prepared, with a detailed GDE map constructed for the uppermost Warburton interval centred on the Daralingie Shelf region. Play analysis was undertaken to understand the distribution of potential reservoirs, seals, mature source rocks and potential hydrocarbon migration pathways. This required a review of the initial GDE mapping with an iteration made reflecting the newly defined ‘800–1000’ stratigraphic interval. Maps for this interval are presented as an example of the GDE-based play mapping process.