Hey Mate,Coal is a source rock. In the right circumstances can...

Hey Mate,

Coal is a source rock. In the right circumstances can produce oil but more likely gas.

Certainly there is potential below because there are more sources and more traps.

But why ignore the first one you come across.

The other key to puzzle is the timing of the events. When the gas/oil was being evolved from the sources; were there reservoirs in place and where there trap rocks in place. The general movement of hydrocarbons is up. So any hydrocarbons still being sourced with a migration path to a trap are still accumulating.

The deeper the source the more likely it is at a temperature to be producing gas.

So you are right in a way, we would normally expect conventional to be deeper than what we are seeing here. But conditions, migration paths and traps were all in place for a shallow reservoir.

Its a good thing and points to further potential deeper in the sequence. Not assured but definitely worth looking at.

Cheers Gaz