 This oil seep emanating from beneath Trans-Orient lands, hints at the underlying potential of this major unconventional resource. |
The Whangai Shale Source-Rock
Thick marine shale sections are common to most sedimentary basins around the world. These thick marine
siltstones to mudstones are also sometimes associated with high amounts of organic carbon particles,
which "cook" into hydrocarbons when subjected to pressure and heat. Examples of these thick “Source Rocks”
are found in many parts of North America, including the Barnett Shales of Texas, the Utica Shales in Quebec
and the Ootla Shales in NE British Coloumbia.
600 Meters Thick of Fractured Shale
The Whangai Formation is a poorly bedded, siliceous or slightly calcareous mudstone of Late Cretaceous age,
with localized development of greensand and well bedded calcareous facies. The formation is 300 to 600m thick
throughout much of the onshore East Coast Basin. The basal and main Whangai facies have an average TOC of
0.8% in the western,onshore sub-belt, with maximum measured values of 1.7% TOC and 336 HI. Although its TOC
content is lower than the Waipawa Black Shale, the Whangai Formation is heavily fractured, which provides
fracture reservoir potential, and is typically some twenty times thicker.
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