The intracratonic rift basin is located mainly in the southwestern part of Queensland and extends into northeastern South Australia.
The oil and gas deposits in the Cooper Basin tend to be fairly small and fragmentary, but highly economical given the relatively low cost of drilling and completion.
Within the basin, exploration companies have conducted extensive research to discover if the area is appropriate for large-scale production.
They have drilled and measured the temperature in many holes, estimating that hot granite rocks at 3.5 km deep are 240 °C.
[4] The Cooper Basin has been selected for the site of a geothermal project, because these rocks are the hottest in the world at economic drilling depths and away from volcanoes.