Hydrocarbon Generation and Expulsion from Early Cretaceous Source Rocks in the Browse Basin, North West Shelf, Australia: a Small Angle Neutron Scattering and Pyrolysis Study

Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS), Rock-Eval pyrolysis and total organic carbon (TOC) analyses were carried out on 165 organic-rich Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous sedimentary rock samples from nine wells in the Browse Basin (Adele-1, Argus-1, Brecknock South-1, Brewster-1A, Carbine-1, Crux-1, Dinichthys-1, Gorgonichthys-1 and Titanichthys-1). Cutting samples and some sidewall cores have been used. Out of the total 165 samples, 47 samples (22 for Brewster-1A and 25 for Dinichthys-1) were also analysed using the Ultra-small Angle Neutron Scattering (USANS) technique. The focus of the study was to identify potential Lower Cretaceous source rocks and the depth at which the onset of hydrocarbon generation occurred in each well, and to determine the onset of hydrocarbon expulsion in the wells for which USANS data were available.