The fascinating chemistry of petroleum and what we can learn from it

Petroleum pervades all aspects of our modern lives in ways we do not always realize. The presentation will outline the relevance of petroleum today and in the future, how petroleum is formed and what it is made of. Case studies will be used to illustrate how the chemistry of petroleum is a powerful means to assess energy resources in Australia, while offering unique insights into the evolution of Earth’s ecosystems.

Emmanuelle Grosjean is a senior organic geochemist at Geoscience Australia, where she works on assessing the hydrocarbon prospectivity of Australia’s sedimentary basins. Emmanuelle received her PhD from the University of Strasbourg in 2002 and undertook a post-doctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining Geoscience Australia in 2005.