Exploiting the Cooper Basin: conventional lessons and appropriate analogues to guide an unconventional future

Abstract

Over the past decade, there has been a paradigm shift in the exploitation strategy in North American tight gas plays from vertical to horizontal wells. This shift has yet to occur in Australia. The Cooper Basin has vast amounts of contingent and prospective tight gas resources that have yet to be unlocked commercially. These resources continue to be developed primarily with hydraulic fracture stimulated vertical wells. Operators have yet to challenge the status quo and test the Cooper Basin tight gas potential with a drilled, completed and tested horizontal well. There are many advantages to horizontal well developments, from the ability to target a specific high graded reservoir unit to increased capital efficiency. Operators need to break away from convention and take a new approach to Cooper Basin tight gas exploration and development in the quest to demonstrate commerciality. A review of the inherent challenges in Cooper Basin gas field developments and the current exploitation strategies employed in analogous tight gas plays have been integrated to produce a pragmatic workflow to identify potential reservoir units that would benefit from a change in development strategy.

Identifying management‐driven dynamics in vegetation cover: Applying the Compere framework to Cooper Creek, Australia

“…While this basin contains vast potential for unconventional gas resources, it has been conventional resources that have supported hydrocarbon extraction since the 1960s. However, currently declining production from existing domestic gas developments and growing demand from the Australian market means there is considerable interest in further developing the unconventional gas resources of the Cooper Basin (Cook et al, 2013; Richards & Côté, 2018). Any future development of the Cooper Basin needs to be undertaken with considerable sensitivity to potential impacts on the ecological, cultural, and pastoral values of the region.…”