By Lauren Found, Neil Hodgson, Karyna Rodriguez and Helen Debenham, Searcher
This is the story of how a basin that was previously thought of as “cold”, with only a thin veneer of Tertiary sediments deposited on top of oceanic crust, was transformed into an attenuated continental crust mode with high geothermal gradients and thick preserved sedimentary sequences. All thanks to advances in geophysical imaging technology. In combination with additional geochemical and airborne gravity gradiometry, this has allowed for the identification of a potential oil province. Now it is waiting for the first well to be drilled to test this newly defined play.