Onshore Bonaparte Basin

Quick facts

Size
270,000 km2 (includes offshore)
Thickness
At least 5 km onshore deepening to 15 km offshore.15km
Petroleum wells
13
Seismic lines
1,800km
Status
Advanced basin
Contingent resources
11.5 bcf gas
Age
Phanerozoic

Overview

The Bonaparte Basin is a large, predominantly offshore, composite polyphase sedimentary basin, extending from onshore coastal areas along the NT–WA border northward into the Timor Sea across Australia's continental margin.

A composite basin that outcrops near the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf and extends offshore underlying the waters of the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf and Timor Sea. Includes the Late Devonian Petrel Sub-basin and Vulcan Sub-basin. Extends into Western Australia. Overlies Palaeoproterozoic metasedimentary and igneous rocks of the Pine Creek Orogen and Proterozoic sediments of the Fitzmaurice Basin. Sedimentary and volcanic successions comprising, marine and fluvial, siliciclastic and carbonate sedimentary rocks with the thickest sections being offshore.

Most exploration activity has focussed on offshore Bonaparte Basin.

Petroleum

The basin is a well established oil and gas province, with proven resources and a number of currently producing fields in offshore areas. The onshore Bonaparte Basin in the Northern Territory contains the Weaber gas field, and oil and gas shows have also been recorded from a number of other wells. At the Weaber field, gas is reservoired in sandstone, interpreted to be the Enga Sandstone of the Langfield Group within a faulted anticlinal trap. The Keep River-1 prospect was a gas discovery that flowed a small but significant amount of gas to surface on test. Gas shows were reported from multiple fine- to medium-grained sandstones interbedded with shale in the lower Milligans Formation and from fractures within the Late Devonian succession.

Other energy potential

The offshore and onshore Bonaparte Basin are prospective for carbon capture and storage.

The following table contains publicly announced best estimate of contingent resources (2C) in the advanced Beetaloo Sub-basin in accordance with the SPE-Petroleum Resources Management System.

FormationPermitWellResourceGross Contingent
Resources 2C		Operator
Langfield Group RL1Weaber-1conventional gas (bcf) 11.5Advent Energy (2023)

The onshore Bonaparte Basin is covered by nearly 1,800km of 2D seismic and 13 petroleum wells. A more detailed description of the petroleum potential of the onshore Bonaparte Basin can be found in NTGS Report 22. Open file petroleum company reports and all NTGS data and information on onshore Bonaparte Basin is available from the GEMIS website.

Ahmad M and Munson TJ, 2013. Chapter 36: Bonaparte Basin: in Ahmad M and Munson TJ (compilers) ‘Geology and Mineral Resources of the Northern Territory’. Northern Territory Geological Survey, Special Publication 5

Last updated:
17 April 2023

Energy