A systematic fault seal evaluation of the Ladbroke Grove and Pyrus Traps of the Penola Trough, Otway Basin

Abstract

<jats:p>Juxtaposition mapping of lithology onto the Ladbroke Grove Fault plane shows that the Pretty Hill Sandstone reservoir, which hosts a 90 m gas column, juxtaposes massive shale units in the hangingwall. Retention of the column at Ladbroke Grove can thus be attributed to favourable across-fault, reservoir-seal juxtaposition. The free water level (FWL) of the Ladbroke Grove column coincides with an abrupt change in strike of the fault from east–west to northwest–southeast. Fault re-activation risking using the FAST (Fault Analysis Seals Technology) technique indicates that the northwest–southeast striking segment of the fault is critically oriented within the in-situ stress field for reactivation, whereas the more east–west trending segment is associated with a relatively lower risk of fault re-activation. Hence recent slip along the northwest–southeast segment may have created permeable fracture networks along this part of the fault plane and thus limited the extent of the column to that bounded by the east–west trending fault segment. This hypothesis is supported by data on soil gases acquired across the fault which suggest that the fault is leaking CO2 across its northwest–southeast striking segment, but not across its east–west striking segment.The Pyrus Fault is not presently sealing by across-fault, reservoir-seal juxtaposition. The throw on the fault plane is sufficient to juxtapose the Katnook Sandstone in the hangingwall against the Pretty Hill Sandstone reservoir in the footwall, providing a sand-on-sand juxtaposition leak point at the structural apex of the trap. Fault re-activation along this fault is likely to have caused fracturing of any shale gouge veneer that may have been present along this sand-on-sand contact resulting in across-fault leakage of hydrocarbons into the Katnook Sandstone and leakage up the fault along permeable fracture networks. FAST predictions of fault re-activation show that the fault is critically oriented within the in-situ stress field for re-activation and soil gas measurements at the surface suggest the fault is leaking CO2.</jats:p>