Cooper-Eromanga

Commentary

The Cooper-Eromanga remains the continent's main onshore oil and gas province, with ongoing gas supply to the east coast market. Federal approvals have become more supportive, but gas reservation, price caps and safeguard-mechanism costs continue to create barriers. Outlook: Neutral.

Updated

October 12, 2026

Location

Description

The Cooper-Eromanga is Australia's premier onshore oil and gas province, comprising two stacked basins in north-eastern South Australia and south-western Queensland. The Cooper Basin is a Late Carboniferous to Triassic intracratonic basin covering c.130,000sq km, with up to c.2,500m of fluvial-lacustrine sandstones, shales and coals; Permian coals and carbonaceous shales of the Patchawarra and Toolachee formations are the principal source rocks, and gas is reservoired mainly in Permian sandstones beneath the regional Triassic Nappamerri Group seal. The Cooper Basin is unconformably overlain by the Early Jurassic to Late Cretaceous Eromanga Basin, which covers c.1,000,000sq km across Queensland, the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales and hosts the Great Artesian Basin aquifers. Most Eromanga-reservoired oil migrated vertically from Permian Cooper source rocks, with additional contributions from Jurassic–Early Cretaceous (e.g. Birkhead) sources.

Summary

The Cooper-Eromanga is the continent's principal onshore conventional producing province, supplying gas to the east-coast market through the Santos and Beach Energy-operated Moomba facilities, as well as Eromanga oil. Moomba CCS began injection in September 2024 and can store up to 1.7mtpa of CO₂ in depleted reservoirs, positioning the basin as a decarbonisation hub. Ongoing exploration targets near-field gas, deeper and unconventional plays, and the pre-Mesozoic troughs beneath the Eromanga.