The Gippsland Basin: reprocessing reveals new opportunities in a ‘mature’ basin

Although still one of Australia’s most prolific hydrocarbon provinces, the Gippsland Basin is an enigma. The basin largely owes its success to a single play (top porosity below the regional seal), reflected in an anomalous creaming curve that shows no kick in production due to common ‘step-change’ events such as the application of 3D seismic or exploration of the deep water. It is believed the explanation can be found in depth imaging issues, which have been known in the basin for nearly half a century. Although the offshore basin is generally regarded as mature, the recent development of new imaging technologies has demonstrated solutions to the depth imaging issues.