Simon Horan - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Simon Horan

The APPEA journal, 1995

In the past 100 years of hydrocarbon exploration in the Otway Basin more than 170 exploration wel... more In the past 100 years of hydrocarbon exploration in the Otway Basin more than 170 exploration wells have been drilled. Prior to 1993, success was limited to small onshore gas fields. In early 1993, the La Bella-1 and Minerva-1 wells discovered significant volumes of gas in Late Cretaceous sandstones within permits VIC/P30 and VIC/P31 in the offshore Otway Basin. They are the largest discoveries to date in the basin and have enabled new markets to be considered for Otway Basin gas. These discoveries were the culmination of a regional evaluation of the Otway Basin by BHP Petroleum which highlighted the prospectivity of VIC/P30 and VIC/P31. Key factors in this evaluation were:geochemical studies that indicated the presence of source rocks with the potential to generate both oil and gas;the development of a new reservoir/seal model; andimproved seismic data quality through reprocessing and new acquisition.La Bella-1 tested the southern fault block of a faulted anticlinal structure in the southeast corner of VIC/P30. Gas was discovered in two Late Cretaceous sandstone intervals of the Shipwreck Group (informal BHP Petroleum nomenclature). Reservoirs are of moderate to good quality and are sealed vertically, and by cross-fault seal, by Late Cretaceous claystones of the Sherbrook Group. The gas is believed to have been sourced from coals and shales of the Early Cretaceous Eumeralla Formation and the structure appears to be filled to spill as currently mapped. RFT samples recovered dry gas with 13 moI-% CO2 and minor amounts of condensate.Minerva-1 tested the northern fault block of a faulted anticline in the northwest corner of VIC/ P31. Gas was discovered in three excellent quality reservoir horizons within the Shipwreck Group. Late Cretaceous Shipwreck Group silty claystones provide vertical and cross-fault seal. The hydrocarbon source is similar to that for the La Bella accumulation and the structure appears to be filled to spill. A production test was carried out in the lower sand unit and flowed at a rig limited rate of 28.8 MMCFGD (0.81 Mm3/D) through a one-inch choke. The gas is composed mainly of methane, with minor amounts of condensate and 1.9 mol-% C02. Minerva-2A was drilled later in 1993 as an appraisal well to test the southern fault block of the structure to prove up sufficient reserves to pursue entry into developing gas markets. It encountered a similar reservoir unit of excellent quality, with a gas-water contact common with that of the northern block of the structure.The La Bella and Minerva gas discoveries have greatly enhanced the prospectivity of the offshore portion of the Otway Basin. The extension of known hydrocarbon accumulations from the onshore Port Campbell embayment to the La Bella-1 well location, 55 km offshore, demonstrates the potential of this portion of the basin.

The APPEA journal, 2004

The range of scenarios and response equation are extremely useful in testing development options ... more The range of scenarios and response equation are extremely useful in testing development options that would otherwise not be apparent. The technique rapidly captures the range of likely outcomes and immediately focusses effort onto a flexible approach to the main uncertainties. This saves considerable re-work and development time.

Social Science Research Network, 2021

The CarbonNet Project is operated by the state of Victoria, and jointly funded and managed by Sta... more The CarbonNet Project is operated by the state of Victoria, and jointly funded and managed by State and Federal governments. The Pelican storage site is situated in the shallow marine environment, between 1 to 15 km offshore from the iconic Ninety Mile Beach in Victoria, Australia. The site requires careful and diligent appraisal to demonstrate its suitability for safe and environmentally-benign permanent storage of CO2 at commercial scale. A 125 million tonne storage site has now been confirmed using new state-of-the-art high-resolution 3D seismic data covering the P90 probabilistic 3D volume of future plume travel in a wide range of scenarios and sensitivities. A new appraisal well (data well) has recently been completed, confirming pressure isolation across the main seal interval and suitable sandstone lithologies for storage, with excellent multi-layered reservoirs (up to 10 darcy permeability, over 150m net). The open-file petroleum database that is available to CarbonNet consists of over 1,500 exploration and development wells in this basin and “wall-to-wall” 3D seismic data offshore, supplemented by extensive onshore 2D seismic data. In addition, over 20,000 onshore boreholes targeting brown coal allow an excellent onshore-offshore stratigraphic correlation and detailed interpretation of depositional environments and facies geometries. The drilling and seismic acquisition were both successfully completed, and a wide range of data has been acquired which now enables detailed site characterisation to be fully completed and facilities design to commence. CarbonNet is following international codes of recommended practice for CO2 site characterization, and is working under Australian Greenhouse Gas legislation which contains detailed criteria for definition of a secure storage site - described as a Declaration of an Identified Storage Formation, and similar to a Storage Complex as understood in Europe and North America. The Storage Formation has been fully defined on the basis of pre-existing petroleum industry data. The new GHG data acquisition – well and 3D seismic – is aimed at delineating detailed reservoir and seal properties to inform the site development plan and consequent application for an Injection Licence. The topseal at the CarbonNet site is a sequence of intraformational shales with interbedded coals and minor sands/silts. These are proven by nearby hydrocarbon traps and by the pressure and salinity data from numerous local wells, including the recent appraisal well, Gular-1. A comprehensive set of conventional core and wireline log data was collected from the reservoir and overburden sections at Gular-1. This data will be used for detailed geomechanical studies to guide optimum reservoir injection of CO2. The excellent reservoirs are supported by a world-class aquifer with strong pressure buffering and dissipation capacity which will limit any local pressure increase due to injection. Aquifer performance is quantified by basin-wide pressure responses to a 60-year production history in this prolific petroleum basin. Development of the Pelican site will be linked through a multi-user hub to a potential onshore hydrogen production plant, and other industrial facilities. The CarbonNet project has commenced a commercialisation process for interested and capable industrial partners to participate in the whole project or in selected elements, including the pipeline transport system, storage site development and management, and in environmental and storage security monitoring. This shallow-water marine site offers unique monitoring challenges in terms of ecological sensitivity, operational visibility, and a high-energy marine environment. These challenges strongly affect the choices of effective monitoring technologies and the CarbonNet project has participated closely in field trials of a range of surface, water column, atmospheric, and subsurface sensing technologies in a range of projects conducted by the CSIRO, and leading Australian Universities. These projects have been commissioned and managed by ANLEC R&D.

Social Science Research Network, 2021

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Mar 15, 2023

Significant organic facies change occurred in the Latrobe Group during the Eocene to Oligocene tr... more Significant organic facies change occurred in the Latrobe Group during the Eocene to Oligocene transition (EOT) in the Gippsland Basin, controlled by climate, basin tectonics and sedimentary facies. The transition from more subdued progradational-transgressive tracts in the Paleocene-Early Eocene, to markedly westward backstepping transgressive systems tracts in Middle-Late Eocene, is documented by integrated sedimentary, palynology and organic petrology studies of recent extensive coring tied to seismic. The present-day nearshore area was dominated in the Palaeocene and Early Eocene by alluvial plain/upper delta plain facies, behind a barrier system located 50-70km further east near Nannygai-Luderick. Rapid transgression by the middle Eocene transformed the area into coastal plain/marginal marine facies behind a barrier system which had moved to near the Barracouta gas field, with the barrier system backstepping further west into the onshore area by the Oligocene. The organic-rich facies in Paleocene-Early Eocene upper delta plain facies mainly developed in abandoned channels or between channel belts in back-levee swamps and are thin, discontinuous and prone to splitting due to channel switching and splay avulsion. The coals are mainly durains with high telovitrinite:detrovitrinite, a gelified detrovitrinite groundmass, high inertinite from seasonal wet-dry conditions, clays and low pyrite. The middle-late Eocene organic facies include thick ombrogenous peats developed in lower coastal plains during the late transgressive/aggradational phases. They comprise upward drying clarain lithotypes with moderate telovitrinite:detrovitrinite and upwards increasing perhydrous liptinite, developed in extensive peat swamps adjacent to but isolated from the main distributary channel belts. More distal back-barrier marshes form thinner clarain and cannel peats with perhydrous high detrovitrinite:telovitrinite and liptinite (14-26%) and together with back barrier lagoon mudstones are very good source rocks. The abrupt change from inertinite rich to poor coals over the EOT results from the interaction of rapid and pronounced changes in climate, flora and depositional facies.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2021

The CarbonNet Project is operated by the state of Victoria, and jointly funded and managed by Sta... more The CarbonNet Project is operated by the state of Victoria, and jointly funded and managed by State and Federal governments. The Pelican storage site is situated in the shallow marine environment, between 1 to 15 km offshore from the iconic Ninety Mile Beach in Victoria, Australia. The site requires careful and diligent appraisal to demonstrate its suitability for safe and environmentally-benign permanent storage of CO2 at commercial scale. A 125 million tonne storage site has now been confirmed using new state-of-the-art high-resolution 3D seismic data covering the P90 probabilistic 3D volume of future plume travel in a wide range of scenarios and sensitivities. A new appraisal well (data well) has recently been completed, confirming pressure isolation across the main seal interval and suitable sandstone lithologies for storage, with excellent multi-layered reservoirs (up to 10 darcy permeability, over 150m net). The open-file petroleum database that is available to CarbonNet consi...

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2021

The APPEA journal, 1995

In the past 100 years of hydrocarbon exploration in the Otway Basin more than 170 exploration wel... more In the past 100 years of hydrocarbon exploration in the Otway Basin more than 170 exploration wells have been drilled. Prior to 1993, success was limited to small onshore gas fields. In early 1993, the La Bella-1 and Minerva-1 wells discovered significant volumes of gas in Late Cretaceous sandstones within permits VIC/P30 and VIC/P31 in the offshore Otway Basin. They are the largest discoveries to date in the basin and have enabled new markets to be considered for Otway Basin gas. These discoveries were the culmination of a regional evaluation of the Otway Basin by BHP Petroleum which highlighted the prospectivity of VIC/P30 and VIC/P31. Key factors in this evaluation were:geochemical studies that indicated the presence of source rocks with the potential to generate both oil and gas;the development of a new reservoir/seal model; andimproved seismic data quality through reprocessing and new acquisition.La Bella-1 tested the southern fault block of a faulted anticlinal structure in the southeast corner of VIC/P30. Gas was discovered in two Late Cretaceous sandstone intervals of the Shipwreck Group (informal BHP Petroleum nomenclature). Reservoirs are of moderate to good quality and are sealed vertically, and by cross-fault seal, by Late Cretaceous claystones of the Sherbrook Group. The gas is believed to have been sourced from coals and shales of the Early Cretaceous Eumeralla Formation and the structure appears to be filled to spill as currently mapped. RFT samples recovered dry gas with 13 moI-% CO2 and minor amounts of condensate.Minerva-1 tested the northern fault block of a faulted anticline in the northwest corner of VIC/ P31. Gas was discovered in three excellent quality reservoir horizons within the Shipwreck Group. Late Cretaceous Shipwreck Group silty claystones provide vertical and cross-fault seal. The hydrocarbon source is similar to that for the La Bella accumulation and the structure appears to be filled to spill. A production test was carried out in the lower sand unit and flowed at a rig limited rate of 28.8 MMCFGD (0.81 Mm3/D) through a one-inch choke. The gas is composed mainly of methane, with minor amounts of condensate and 1.9 mol-% C02. Minerva-2A was drilled later in 1993 as an appraisal well to test the southern fault block of the structure to prove up sufficient reserves to pursue entry into developing gas markets. It encountered a similar reservoir unit of excellent quality, with a gas-water contact common with that of the northern block of the structure.The La Bella and Minerva gas discoveries have greatly enhanced the prospectivity of the offshore portion of the Otway Basin. The extension of known hydrocarbon accumulations from the onshore Port Campbell embayment to the La Bella-1 well location, 55 km offshore, demonstrates the potential of this portion of the basin.

The APPEA journal, 2004

The range of scenarios and response equation are extremely useful in testing development options ... more The range of scenarios and response equation are extremely useful in testing development options that would otherwise not be apparent. The technique rapidly captures the range of likely outcomes and immediately focusses effort onto a flexible approach to the main uncertainties. This saves considerable re-work and development time.

Social Science Research Network, 2021

The CarbonNet Project is operated by the state of Victoria, and jointly funded and managed by Sta... more The CarbonNet Project is operated by the state of Victoria, and jointly funded and managed by State and Federal governments. The Pelican storage site is situated in the shallow marine environment, between 1 to 15 km offshore from the iconic Ninety Mile Beach in Victoria, Australia. The site requires careful and diligent appraisal to demonstrate its suitability for safe and environmentally-benign permanent storage of CO2 at commercial scale. A 125 million tonne storage site has now been confirmed using new state-of-the-art high-resolution 3D seismic data covering the P90 probabilistic 3D volume of future plume travel in a wide range of scenarios and sensitivities. A new appraisal well (data well) has recently been completed, confirming pressure isolation across the main seal interval and suitable sandstone lithologies for storage, with excellent multi-layered reservoirs (up to 10 darcy permeability, over 150m net). The open-file petroleum database that is available to CarbonNet consists of over 1,500 exploration and development wells in this basin and “wall-to-wall” 3D seismic data offshore, supplemented by extensive onshore 2D seismic data. In addition, over 20,000 onshore boreholes targeting brown coal allow an excellent onshore-offshore stratigraphic correlation and detailed interpretation of depositional environments and facies geometries. The drilling and seismic acquisition were both successfully completed, and a wide range of data has been acquired which now enables detailed site characterisation to be fully completed and facilities design to commence. CarbonNet is following international codes of recommended practice for CO2 site characterization, and is working under Australian Greenhouse Gas legislation which contains detailed criteria for definition of a secure storage site - described as a Declaration of an Identified Storage Formation, and similar to a Storage Complex as understood in Europe and North America. The Storage Formation has been fully defined on the basis of pre-existing petroleum industry data. The new GHG data acquisition – well and 3D seismic – is aimed at delineating detailed reservoir and seal properties to inform the site development plan and consequent application for an Injection Licence. The topseal at the CarbonNet site is a sequence of intraformational shales with interbedded coals and minor sands/silts. These are proven by nearby hydrocarbon traps and by the pressure and salinity data from numerous local wells, including the recent appraisal well, Gular-1. A comprehensive set of conventional core and wireline log data was collected from the reservoir and overburden sections at Gular-1. This data will be used for detailed geomechanical studies to guide optimum reservoir injection of CO2. The excellent reservoirs are supported by a world-class aquifer with strong pressure buffering and dissipation capacity which will limit any local pressure increase due to injection. Aquifer performance is quantified by basin-wide pressure responses to a 60-year production history in this prolific petroleum basin. Development of the Pelican site will be linked through a multi-user hub to a potential onshore hydrogen production plant, and other industrial facilities. The CarbonNet project has commenced a commercialisation process for interested and capable industrial partners to participate in the whole project or in selected elements, including the pipeline transport system, storage site development and management, and in environmental and storage security monitoring. This shallow-water marine site offers unique monitoring challenges in terms of ecological sensitivity, operational visibility, and a high-energy marine environment. These challenges strongly affect the choices of effective monitoring technologies and the CarbonNet project has participated closely in field trials of a range of surface, water column, atmospheric, and subsurface sensing technologies in a range of projects conducted by the CSIRO, and leading Australian Universities. These projects have been commissioned and managed by ANLEC R&D.

Social Science Research Network, 2021

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Mar 15, 2023

Significant organic facies change occurred in the Latrobe Group during the Eocene to Oligocene tr... more Significant organic facies change occurred in the Latrobe Group during the Eocene to Oligocene transition (EOT) in the Gippsland Basin, controlled by climate, basin tectonics and sedimentary facies. The transition from more subdued progradational-transgressive tracts in the Paleocene-Early Eocene, to markedly westward backstepping transgressive systems tracts in Middle-Late Eocene, is documented by integrated sedimentary, palynology and organic petrology studies of recent extensive coring tied to seismic. The present-day nearshore area was dominated in the Palaeocene and Early Eocene by alluvial plain/upper delta plain facies, behind a barrier system located 50-70km further east near Nannygai-Luderick. Rapid transgression by the middle Eocene transformed the area into coastal plain/marginal marine facies behind a barrier system which had moved to near the Barracouta gas field, with the barrier system backstepping further west into the onshore area by the Oligocene. The organic-rich facies in Paleocene-Early Eocene upper delta plain facies mainly developed in abandoned channels or between channel belts in back-levee swamps and are thin, discontinuous and prone to splitting due to channel switching and splay avulsion. The coals are mainly durains with high telovitrinite:detrovitrinite, a gelified detrovitrinite groundmass, high inertinite from seasonal wet-dry conditions, clays and low pyrite. The middle-late Eocene organic facies include thick ombrogenous peats developed in lower coastal plains during the late transgressive/aggradational phases. They comprise upward drying clarain lithotypes with moderate telovitrinite:detrovitrinite and upwards increasing perhydrous liptinite, developed in extensive peat swamps adjacent to but isolated from the main distributary channel belts. More distal back-barrier marshes form thinner clarain and cannel peats with perhydrous high detrovitrinite:telovitrinite and liptinite (14-26%) and together with back barrier lagoon mudstones are very good source rocks. The abrupt change from inertinite rich to poor coals over the EOT results from the interaction of rapid and pronounced changes in climate, flora and depositional facies.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2021

The CarbonNet Project is operated by the state of Victoria, and jointly funded and managed by Sta... more The CarbonNet Project is operated by the state of Victoria, and jointly funded and managed by State and Federal governments. The Pelican storage site is situated in the shallow marine environment, between 1 to 15 km offshore from the iconic Ninety Mile Beach in Victoria, Australia. The site requires careful and diligent appraisal to demonstrate its suitability for safe and environmentally-benign permanent storage of CO2 at commercial scale. A 125 million tonne storage site has now been confirmed using new state-of-the-art high-resolution 3D seismic data covering the P90 probabilistic 3D volume of future plume travel in a wide range of scenarios and sensitivities. A new appraisal well (data well) has recently been completed, confirming pressure isolation across the main seal interval and suitable sandstone lithologies for storage, with excellent multi-layered reservoirs (up to 10 darcy permeability, over 150m net). The open-file petroleum database that is available to CarbonNet consi...

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2021