The Walloon coal seam gas play, Surat Basin, Queensland

Abstract

Extensive drilling of the Walloon Subgroup for coal seam gas (CSG) during the last decade has revealed a world-class CSG play on the northern flank of the Surat Basin. Resources discovered in the Walloon Subgroup exceed 30 TCF; this gas now underpins four CSG-to-liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects. Results to date have revealed the highly heterogeneous nature of the Walloon Subgroup and its associated coal properties. The Walloon Subgroup is typically 350 m thick and contains an average of 30 m of net coal that is interbedded with a range of clay-rich, fluvio-lacustrine lithologies. The most prospective area of the play occurs down-dip and adjacent to the Walloon subcrop edge, where high permeability exists combined with a thick section of net pay. Coals in the Walloon Subgroup are low rank (0.35–0.65% Ro) with gas contents ranging between 1–15 m3/tonne (dry ash-free). Average coal ply thickness is 30 cm, making correlation and prediction of reservoir properties difficult. Reservoir properties—including permeability, gas content and saturation—differ as a result of compositional variability of the coal seams and also the tectonic history. Mapping of sparse 2D seismic data has highlighted the distribution of major structural features throughout the basin. Coal fracture permeability ranges from less than 0.1 mD to more than 2,000 mD, and mapping has identified areas where permeability appears to be enhanced on structures that have undergone mid Cretaceous–Eocene deformation.