Oil-prone coals of the Walloon Coal Measures, Surat Basin, Australia

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Abstract
Studies of autochthonous coals from the Walloon Coal Measures, Surat Basin, Australia, suggest that the process of liptinite enrichment and the formation of perhydrous vitrinites have given rise to oil-prone coals. These processes were essentially controlled by the type of flora contributing to the peat accumulation and the biochemical transformation of the flora under dysaerobic conditions. These processes lead to the coals being hydrogen-rich and oil prone, and contrast with the process described by other authors for Indonesian source rocks. The mature phase of oil generation from hydrogen-rich coals such as those of the Walloon Coal Measures may be preceded by several earlier phases, during which hydrocarbons are likely to be generated from subereous components and terpene resinites in low rank lignites and sub-bituminous coals.