Copies of Supplementary Papers may be obtained from the Geological Society of Australia's website (www.gsa.org.au), the Australian Journal of Earth Sciences website (www.ajes.com.au) or from the National Library of Australia's Pandora archive (http://nla.gov.au/nla.arc-25194).

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Megascopic lithotype and microscopic maceral and mineral composition were supplemented by sedimentary logging of the interburden and stable carbon isotope data from a single well to interpret the response of the Late Permian Fort Cooper Coal Measures (FCCM) to regional and global environmental influences. The FCCM are differentiated from underlying, relatively high vitrinite Moranbah Coal Measures, and overlying higher inertinite Rangal Coal Measures in the Bowen Basin by their intercalation with abundant tuff and siliciclastic partings and interbeds. Besides this, there is little described about the variation in the organic composition of the FCCM and its causes. The FCCM can be subdivided into a lower aggradational Fair Hill Formation, transgressed by the shallow marine-derived Black Alley Shale that interfinger with/is overlain by the progradational Middle Main Seams and Burngrove Formation. The coals are dominantly dull with minor bright bands that are more abundant in the Burngrove Formation representing a change in plant composition. The maceral analysis shows that the coals in the Fair Hill Formation and Middle Main Seams are vitrinite-rich (80-90%mmf) albeit with high mineral matter suggesting the formation of precursory peat under rising water levels and with high sediment (tuff) influx and

ABSTRCTThe explosive growth of shale gas production in the US has sparked a global race to determine which other regions from around the world have the potential to replicate this success. One of the main areas of focus is the Asia Pacific region, specifically Pakistan.In this paper, real results from seven different US shale basins-Marcellus, Eagle Ford, Haynesville, Barnett, Woodford (West-Central Oklahoma), Fayetteville and Bakken-have been used to develop a comprehensive sequence of shale exploitation strategy for emerging shale plays.The study involves integration of shale gas exploitation knowledge reinforced by a decade of experience across most of the North American shale gas basins, with published data. Different reservoir properties have been compared to develop a comprehensive logic of the effective techniques to produce from shale-gas reservoirs. We have validated the sequence with real results from US shale production ventures, published case histories, and by global experts who have been directly involved in shale reserves evaluation and production. Subsequently, several different reservoir attributes of Pakistan shale plays have been compared with US basins, in an attempt to identify analogues.It is the intent of this paper to diminish the difficult and often expensive learning cycle time associated with a commercially successful shale project, as well as to attempt to illustrate the most influential factors that determine optimum production. A very few papers in the petroleum literature that provide an extensive and systematic approach towards shale exploitation strategy for given shale-reservoir conditions