Stratigraphic drilling in underexplored areas aims to discover important geological information like geothermal temperatures and the presence of rocks that can store or trap liquids and gases. The new data from these drillholes help the exploration industry determine the prospectivity for energy resources like oil, natural gas, helium, hydrogen, geothermal, coal and carbon dioxide storage.
Since the mid-1990s GSWA has contracted, or participated in, the drilling of 38 stratigraphic wells. Of these 11 in the Southern Carnarvon Basin were relatively shallow, whereas four deep wells were drilled in each of the Perth and Officer Basins, and one in the Canning Basin. These were mostly to investigate the potential for liquid and gas energy resources, apart from the four Harvey wells which were drilled to test for CO2 geosequestration potential. All wells also provide information relevant for geothermal energy, particularly those deeper than 800 m.
Additional information on GSWA drilling in the Neoproterozoic–Phanerozoic can be found via the Petroleum and Geothermal Information (WAPIMS) page. All samples (cores and cuttings) retained from Departmental drilling can be accessed by contacting the core library via corelibrary.requests@dmirs.wa.gov.au; go to Core library services for an explanation of the sampling rules.
