Historical and emerging super AUTHORS

basins of Southeast Asia Emeliana Rice-Oxley ~ PETRONAS,

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; e.rice-oxley@
petronas.com
Emeliana Rice-Oxley and Azli Abu-Bakar
Emeliana Rice-Oxley graduated from the
University of South Carolina with a B.Sc.
degree in geology. She started her career as
a biostratigrapher more than 25 years ago
ABSTRACT
and since then has held numerous technical,
Southeast Asia is a region composed of vast archipelagoes with a managerial, and leadership roles at Shell,
complex geological setting and tectonic evolution. At its heart lies overseeing exploration operations in the
Sundaland, a heterogeneous collage of tectono-stratigraphic ter- United Kingdom, Brazil, United States, and
ranes, which came about from the subduction and collision of the Latin America. She joined PETRONAS in
surrounding plates with the southern Eurasia since the Paleozoic. 2012 and is currently the vice president of
exploration.
Five basins can be categorized as super basins: the Malay, Greater
Luconia, Northwest Sabah, Greater Sumatra, and Kutei Basins. Azli Abu-Bakar ~ PETRONAS, Kuala
Tectonic events controlled many of the locations and orientations Lumpur, Malaysia; azli_abubakar@
of the basins, but local stratigraphic forces have greater controls petronas.com
on the basin fill and, subsequently, the distribution and variation Azli Abu-Bakar graduated with a B.Sc. (hons)
of successful hydrocarbon plays across the region. The main plays degree in geology from Imperial College
include Miocene clastics and carbonates, Oligocene carbonate, London in 1999 and returned twice to obtain
and sub-Cenozoic basement. The source rocks are provided by an M.Sc. in petroleum geoscience in 2006
and a Ph.D. in 2017. He joined PETRONAS in
the Eocene–Oligocene lacustrine to marine shales as well as Mio-
1999 where he worked to explore for
cene marine shales. The main traps were mostly formed in the
hydrocarbons in Southeast Asian basins and
late Miocene to Pliocene from regional inversion events. Signifi- other basins from Asia to America. He is
cant discoveries are still being made recently, underpinned by now involved more in growing PETRONAS’
challenging dogma and beliefs, replicating success, and innova- upstream business internationally.
tion. These super basins offer clear paths to monetization given
the widespread infrastructures that are managed by experienced ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
companies and host authorities. Despite economic downturns We would like to express our gratitude to
and a push for renewables, the projected demand and trajectory our partners, especially TotalEnergies, Shell,
of growth remain intact. Recent government efforts in liberating PTT Exploration and Production, and
data access and improving commercial terms are also expected KUFPEC, for permission to use the selected
to boost exploration activities, especially in the frontier plays. seismic images in this publication. Thank you
The region still offers exciting opportunities that are attractive, to our colleagues Muhammad Muzammil
and it will remain the unique super basin region that has been Othman and Muhammad Imran Muiz Abidin
for their assistance with the figures.
noted historically and will continue to be in the future.

INTRODUCTION

Southeast Asia is a vast region of archipelagoes that spans from

the Indian Ocean to the west all the way to the Pacific Ocean to
the east (Figure 1). The region is in one of the most active

Copyright ©2022. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.
Manuscript received March 18, 2021; provisional acceptance April 22, 2021; revised manuscript
received July 10, 2021; final acceptance July 15, 2021.
DOI:10.1306/09152121048

AAPG Bulletin, v. 106, no. 3 (March 2022), pp. 633–653 633

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 Figure 1. Location of Southeast Asia, including the Sunda Shelf, showing their areal size comparison with the United States (modified
after Hall and Smyth, 2008).

tectonic and volcanic settings in the world and com- Oil and gas production is a major contributor to
prises many basins with complex geological histories the national GDP of most nations in the region. Sixty
(Tapponnier et al., 1982; Longley, 1997; Hall, 2012; percent of current daily production of 5.6 million
Hutchison, 2014). It is also a region with equally BOE per day in Southeast Asia is gas, mainly for
complex local politics surrounding one of the world’s domestic energy and liquefied natural gas (LNG)
most contested territories, the South China Sea. export (Wood Mackenzie Lens database, 2021). The
However, it is this very complexity that also offers total daily oil production of Southeast Asia is 2.4 mil-
the industry a diverse set of opportunities for hydro- lion BOPD, which is significantly lower than the oil
carbon exploitation, from frontier to mature basins. demand of the region, estimated at 9 million BOPD
Geopolitically, Southeast Asia consists of 10 (International Energy Agency, 2020). The huge dif-
nations—Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, ference between supply and demand puts most
Myanmar, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Southeast Asian nations as net oil importers.
Laos, and Brunei—collectively known as the Associa- Geologically, the region has undergone many tec-
tion of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). With a tonic events and, as a result, is characterized by
total population of more than 600 million in an area numerous Cenozoic basins (Figure 2), with up to 40
half the size of the United States (Figure 1), it is one basins considered to be significant, prolific hydrocar-
of the most populous regions in the world and the bon basins (Doust, 2017). At least five producing
location of the world’s most densely populated island, basins have individually produced more than 5 billion
Java. Most of the 4.4 million km2 of Southeast Asia’s BOE; they represent a considerable resource that has
land area is in islands and archipelagoes, with many been actively exploited over 100 years, and the resour-
overlapping claims in disputed marine areas. The ces continue to grow with further exploration. The
average per capita gross domestic product (GDP) for Malay, Greater Luconia, Northwest Sabah, Greater
the Southeast Asian nations ranges broadly, from US Sumatra, and Kutei Basins (Figures 2, 3) are the five
$1200 for Myanmar to US $64,000 for Singapore super basins of Southeast Asia. The first three basins
(International Monetary Fund, 2019), reflecting the are located in Malaysia, whereas the last two are
diverse sets of economies of these nations. located in Indonesia. Some of these basins are made

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 Figure 2. Location of Sundaland in relation to the regional tectonic forces overlain with the main basins in Southeast Asia (yellow poly-
gons) (modified after Metcalfe, 2013). Most of these basins are within the limits of the Sunda Shelf (blue dashed line). The lines of sections
labeled Fig. 6A–E display geoseismic sections.

up of several smaller but genetically related subbasins. maturity. However, significant potential remains, as
For example, the Greater Luconia Basin includes has been repeatedly demonstrated by recent discov-
Central and North Luconia, as well as the Balingian eries in traditional as well as less-explored frontier
and Tatau subbasins that share a common source areas. In this paper, we will be showing how South-
rock and, to some extent, hydrocarbon plays. east Asian basins, particularly the super basins,
To date, 96 billion BOE of petroleum has been developed tectono-stratigraphically and outline their
discovered from these five basins, from which main petroleum systems and plays. We will also be
approximately 60 billion BOE has already been pro- discussing some examples of recent successes and
duced. An estimated 35 billion BOE of recoverable offer some thoughts on how these super basins
reserves and at least 30 billion BOE of estimated pro- keep producing some significant volume from
spective resources remain yet to be found (Figure 3). time to time from the thinking and technological
However, out of these five basins, the Malay Basin perspectives.
has shown signs of a plateauing creaming curve for
some time and, although modern three-dimensional
(3-D) seismic data and interpretation technologies TECTONO-STRATIGRAPHIC EVOLUTION
are expected to contribute to new prospective SUMMARY
resources, it will probably not add significant yet-to-
find reserves that warrant it remaining a super basin The Southeast Asian super basins are located on the
in the future. The Malay Basin, therefore, will not be Sunda Shelf and share a common tectonic history
discussed further in this paper. (Figure 2). The Sundaland, which is the geologic core
Because hydrocarbons in Southeast Asia have of the Sunda Shelf, sits at the juncture of many
been produced continuously for nearly 150 yr, there plates, sandwiched between the India and South
is a perception that the traditional onshore and off- China plates to the west and north, respectively, to
shore petroleum basins have reached exploration the south by the Australia plate, and to the east by

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 SEA Super Basins Resources Distribution SEA Super Basins Creaming Curve
30
Greater Sumatra
20
25
3.6
Northwest Sabah
8.7
2.2

Recoverable Resources (BBOE)

20 Malay
Resources (BBOE)

5.3 15
2.1
15 3.9 3.9
3.9 Greater
10.9
7.2
Luconia
10 3.3 10
13.4 5.5
2.1
5 Kutei
7.9 5.0 1.5
4.5
2.7
0 1.2 5
Greater Sumatra NW Sabah Malay Greater Luconia Kutei

Sedimentary Basins
Oil Produced Gas Produced
0
Condensate Produced Oil Resources Remaining Pre 1966 1971 1976 1981 1986 1991 1996 2001 2006 2011 2016
Gas Resources Remaining Condensate Resources Remaining 1961
YTF (Mean)

Figure 3. Significant oil and gas resources have been found and produced in Southeast Asia (SEA) basins, with much potential remain-
ing (data from Wood Mackenzie Lens database, 2021). BBOE 5 billion barrels of oil equivalent; YTF 5 yet-to-find.

the Philippines plate (Figure 2). It is a heterogeneous to the subduction zones in Sulawesi, and this could
collage of Paleozoic and Mesozoic basement rocks suggest that the rifting could form in a back-arc set-
and is host to an assemblage of smaller basins, which ting. The extension continued until the Oligocene,
came about from the “Clash of Giants” related to the where it was abruptly halted by an uplift event.
collision between the Indian and Eurasian plates in These rifts in the eastern edge of Sundaland are char-
the late Eocene and the collision with the Australian acterized by marine sediment fill.
plate in the Miocene. The second event is the late Eocene hard colli-
There are several large tectonic events that sion between India and mainland Eurasia (Gibbons
drive the formation of the basins in and around the et al., 2015; Figure 4). This gave rise to transtensional
periphery of the Sunda Shelf, of which three are basins that stretch from Myanmar (Moattama basin)
important from the perspective of the petroleum sys- to offshore Thailand and Malay peninsula. The rifting
tem (Figure 4). The first is the late Paleocene–late of the South China Sea also seems to start during
Eocene soft collision of the Indian plate and Eurasian this period and continues to ca. 20 Ma (Barckhausen
plate (Gibbons et al., 2015; Hu et al., 2016), which et al., 2014). During this event, several major north-
formed the back-arc basins in Sumatra and Java along west-southeast trending, right-lateral faults systems,
the southern edge of Sundaland. These deep basins namely, the Sagaing, Three Pagodas, and Red River
host the major source rocks in the region and act as faults, from west to east, formed or became reacti-
the kitchen for the present-day hydrocarbon accu- vated to accommodate the northward movement of
mulations. Most of the source rocks that were depos- India. The movements of these faults, which extend
ited during this period were of lacustrine origin since farther to the southeast, also formed the extensional
these basins formed within the inland terrane of Sun- basins in the South China Sea, mainly around Bor-
daland and were protected from marine incursion by neo (Pubellier and Morley, 2014). Following similar
volcanic arc. depositional trends as the first event, the basins in
Toward the eastern edge of Sundaland, rifting the center of Sundaland were also filled with lacus-
started in the Kutei Basin, which may have been trine sediments, whereas the basins to the east con-
driven by extension in the Celebes Sea and the tinue to be filled with marine sediments.
Makassar Strait earlier in the early Eocene (Moss The third significant tectonic event is the colli-
et al., 1997). Both extension centers are in proximity sion of the Australian plate with Sundaland in the

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 (A) (B)
35Ma 20Ma

NW NW
MALAY
SABAH SABAH
SU

SU
MA

LUCONIA LUCONIA

MA
TR

TR
A

A
KUTEI KUTEI

0 1000 0 1000

Kilometer Kilometer

(C) (D)
90 E 100 E 110 E 120 E 130 E 140 E

9Ma 6Ma
30 N

20 N

10 N
NW
MALAY NW MALAY SABAH
SABAH
LUCONIA
LUCONIA
SU

SU

0N
MA

MA

KUTEI
KUTEI
TR

TR
A

10 S
0 1000 0 1000

Kilometer Kilometer

Legend :

Deep marine

Shallow marine

Carbonate

Organic rich lacustrine

Volcanic

Deep water fan

Sunda shelf outline

Subduction zone

Present day land outline

Figure 4. The India–Eurasia collision (Paleocene–Oligocene) gave birth to countless Cenozoic basins, whereas the late Miocene collision
with the Australian plate is responsible for basin inversion and fault reactivation (modified after Pubellier and Morley, 2014; Hall, 2012).
(A) Subduction in the south and southwest of Sundaland formed back-arc basins of Sumatra and Java. (B) The India-Laurasia collision trig-
gered trantensional opening of multiple basins in the center of Sundaland including the Malay Basin. (C) Collision between Australia and
Banda Sea plates led to the formation of localized highs in Greater Luconia, Northwest Sabah and offshore Java basins, which encouraged
the growth of carbonate buildups. (D) The collision between the Philippines plate with the Sunda Shelf gave rise to inland uplifts and trig-
gered many deep-water fan depositions across Southeast Asia.

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 middle Miocene (Figure 4), which led to the forma- hydrocarbon generation, and migration and trapping
tion of compressional and inverted structures, as well mechanisms. However, the local flavors seem to have
as rapid sedimentation in most of the key basins greater control on the basin fill and, subsequently, dis-
throughout Southeast Asia. Most of the structures tribution of the petroleum system and play types. The
that formed during this event make up the petroleum interaction of these controls means there will be some
traps today. The widespread and rapid sedimentation predictable regional trends, but there will also be a
resulted in a large amount of coarse clastic materials great deal of local flavors that can be difficult to predict
to form stacked reservoirs, as well as forming thick on a regional scale, resulting in an assortment of basin
overburden that is a prerequisite to get the source types essentially of very similar age. It is this geological
rocks to the right level of maturity. similarity and extreme variation between oil-prone
These three key tectonic events are the major and gas-prone basins that make the petroleum geology
contribution to the geologic complexity in Southeast of this region unique from a global perspective.
Asia. The variety of basin types, which came about
from these large-scale tectonic movements, can be
represented by an east-west cross section across Sun- BASIN FILL
daland (Figure 5). Subduction-related basins (i.e.,
fore-arc and back-arc basins) can be seen on both the Most of the basins located close to the southern edge
western and eastern fringes of Sundaland, such as the of Sundaland began to form broadly synchronously
Greater Sumatra Basin (Figure 6A); the Sumatra- in the Eocene (Figure 7). These basins formed as a
Java subduction zone on the western edge, which back-arc caused by the subduction of the Indian plate
formed from the subduction of the Indian plate beneath Sundaland (Eurasian plate). The Greater
beneath Sundaland (Eurasian plate); and the Banda Sumatra, Java, and Kutei Basins are examples of
arc on the eastern edge, which is related to the sub- these early rift basins (Figures 2, 7B). Sediment fill
duction of the Banda Sea plate and collision with the during this early synrift period typically began within
Australian plate. In contrast, transtensional rift basins these extensional basins and ranges from terrestrial
could be found toward the center of Sundaland, such lacustrine, such as the Lahat-Lemat Formation in
as the Malay Basin (Figure 6B). These rift basins are Sumatra and Ngimbang Formation in West Java, to
related to the strike slip faults that were reactivated shallow marine environments, such as Ngimbang
by the India-Asia collision (Figure 6C, D). Formation in East Java to the Atan Formation in the
The regional tectonic evolution controlled many Kutei Basin (Figure 7). The different formation
of the location and orientation of the basins, as well as names reflect the type locality where they were
their thermal histories, main structural styles, timing of found across different parts of the archipelago. These

Figure 5. Southeast Asia comprises several tectonic settings that formed many related basins (Darman and Sidi, 2017).
Mts. 5 Mountains; St. 5 Strait.

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(A) (B)

(C) (D) (E)

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Figure 6. Geoseismic sections from selected basins across Southeast Asia showing Cenozoic sediment thickness and age. Unless stated, main sediments are of clastics origin. Line of
section in Figure 2. Depth scale in two-way traveltime (TWT) (milliseconds). Seabed surface is colored blue. (A) Greater Sumatra Basin; (B) Malay Basin; (C) Greater Luconia Basin;
(D) Northwest Sabah Basin; (E) Kutei Basin. Lwr 5 lower.

RICE-OXLEY
AND
ABU-BAKAR
639
 (A) (B)
Cretaceous

Figure 7. (A) Chronostratigraphy of the main Southeast Asia basins with main play elements. (B) Simplified basin fill evolution showing
the synrift and postrift periods (modified after Doust and Lijmbach, 1997; Clements et al., 2011). Numbering 1–4 in part (B) corresponds
to the period shown by the same numbering in part (A).

initial basin fills gave rise to type I source rocks in the During this early postrift period, major deltas started
lacustrine-filled basins of Sumatra and West Java and to form extensively on the edge of the South China
type II/III source rock in the marine-filled basins of Sea, especially in northwestern Borneo and offshore
East Java and Kutei. Vietnam. In Central Luconia, carbonate platforms
The centrally located basins of Sundaland also grew on the highs of major rotated fault blocks formed
started to form in the Eocene and continued opening during the previous rifting event (Figures 2, 7B).
in the Oligocene (Madon et al., 2019, 2020). During These carbonates form very significant reservoirs for
this period, terrestrial to lacustrine sediments of type Southeast Asia. Carbonates also accumulated on highs
I and type III source rocks were deposited in the cen- in the form of reefs, which could be found from
tral part of Sundaland, such as the Malay Basin, Sumatra in the west to the Philippines in the east.
whereas the eastern basins in Kutei were closer to the Source rock deposited during this time in these paralic
open sea and likely filled with marine sediments that basins are rich in fluvial deltaic type II/III allochtho-
contain type II source rocks (Figures 2, 7). nous land-plant material.
The opening of the South China Sea during this In the late Miocene–Pliocene, subduction of the
period resulted in an extensive transgression or Philippines oceanic plate underneath the northeast-
marine flooding over most of Sundaland that intensi- ern fringe of Sundaland, near Northwest Sabah, led
fied during the early to middle Miocene. In Sunda- to inversions accompanied by local erosion in many
land’s marginal basins, such as the Northwest Sabah areas. Extensive uplift occurred on the Borneo hin-
Basin, reservoirs were deposited in shelfal to bathyal terland, which became the source for the Baram
marine environments (Figures 2, 7). and Makaham deltas in the Northwest Sabah and
During the middle Miocene, the cessation of rift- Kutei Basins, respectively, that built thick, upward-
ing gave rise to major regression in the center of Sun- shallowing, regressive deltas (Figure 6D, E). These
daland and is marked by a marine erosional surface deltas consist of growth faults in the shallow-water
known regionally as the mid-Miocene unconformity. areas and thrust anticlines in the deep-water areas.

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 These deltas also host deep-water turbidities, which range from 1.7 to 8 wt. %, HI from 150 to 310
form major reservoirs for the deep-water areas in mgHC/gTOC, and thermal maturity from 0.54% to
Southeast Asia. 0.6% Ro. The source rock in the Luconia and North-
west Sabah basins are mainly reworked deltaic type
II/III source rocks, which tend to be gassier, with a
PETROLEUM SYSTEMS AND PLAYS TOC range from 1 to 2 wt. %, HI from 50 to 100
mgHC/gTOC, and thermal maturity range from
The source rocks in Southeast Asia are more varied 0.4% to 0.7% Ro (Madon et al., 1999). However, the
than in most parts of the world such as the Middle Baram delta and inboard Sabah provinces within the
East and northwestern Europe where source rocks Northwest Sabah Basin tend to be oily, partly
are of mainly marine origin that are relatively consis- because the upper Miocene source rocks in these
tent in type and quality and are found in well-defined areas are subjected to a lower geothermal gradient
formations of regional extent. In Southeast Asia, (Tan et al., 1999).
however, the terrestrial, lacustrine, and marine There are three main proven hydrocarbon plays
source rocks are found with variable qualities and in Southeast Asian super basins: (1) Miocene clastics,
thicknesses. The paralic nature of the basins, where (2) Miocene carbonates, and (3) sub-Cenozoic base-
source rocks are commonly interbedded with reser- ment. The Miocene clastic play typically consists of
voirs and seals, combined with the limited range of deltaic to deep-marine sandstones and is present in
geochemical signature of the source rocks to differen- all the super basins in the region. In the Greater
tiate them from each other and considerable amount Sumatra Basin, the play is characterized by regressive
of mixing of charge from different source rocks, deltaic sandstones in the south, which transitions into
make predicting charge quality and maturity and deep water in the north (Doust and Noble, 2008).
therefore prospectivity of the Southeast Asian basins The discovered fields are relatively shallow below the
much more difficult (Doust, 2017). This probably surface and are among the first to be produced in this
explains why significant discoveries continue to region. The hydrocarbons are mainly oil and some
be made even after almost 150 yr of exploration gas, with the oil showing variable characteristics. Oil
(Bamford, 2012). in this basin typically exhibits a large API range from
In general, there are two key source rock types. 15 to 40 and many shallower reservoirs have high
The first is synrift lacustrine type I source rocks, viscosity. Duri and Minas fields in the Greater Suma-
which have charged many of the most prolific oil- tra Basin with ca. 3.4 million BOE and 5.4 billion
producing basins in Southeast Asia, including the BOE reserves, respectively (Satyana, 2019), are nota-
Greater Sumatra Basin (Figure 7A). This source rock ble examples. This play is also commonly found in
was deposited during the Eocene to early Oligocene the offshore basins of Greater Luconia, Northwest
age and has a typical total organic carbon (TOC) Sabah, and Kutei where reservoirs are made up of
range of 1.7 to 8.5 wt. % and hydrogen index (HI) shallow to deep-marine sandstones (Figure 7A). Both
range of 130 to 290 mgHC/gTOC, whereas the ther- oil and gas have been found in these basins. Well-
mal maturity ranges between 0.64% and 1.4% vitri- known fields in these basins includes Samarang
nite reflectance (Ro) (Sarjono and Sardjito, 1989; (500 million BOE reserve) and Kikeh (500 mil-
Suseno et al., 1992). The source rock has generated lion BOE reserve) fields in Northwest Sabah Basin
oil in most areas and gas where it is deeply buried. (Forrest et al., 2009; Jones et al., 2016) and Badak
The second is the late synrift and postrift paralic type field (6.7 TCF gas reserves) in Kutei Basin (Satyana,
II/type III source beds, which have charged many of 2019).
the most prolific gas-producing basins, commonly The Miocene carbonate play is found mainly in
found with liquid hydrocarbon, in Sumatra, North- the Greater Luconia and Greater Sumatra Basins
west Sabah, Greater Luconia, and Kutei Basins (Figures 6C, 7A). The play consists of platform as
(Figure 7). These source rocks are also found in parts well as reefal carbonates. The Arun field (13 TCF
of the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand. In Suma- gas reserves) in Greater Sumatra Basin is one of the
tra, for example, this source rock ranges in age from biggest in the region and is found in a large reefal
early Oligocene to middle Miocene with a TOC buildup (Soeparjadi, 1983, Satyana, 2019), whereas

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 the F6 field (5 TCF gas reserves) in Central Luconia
is in a carbonate platform (Figure 6; Ali and Abolins,
1999; Mahmud and Saleh, 1999).
The Miocene carbonates are generally covered
and sealed by a widespread regional shale interval.
These carbonate traps are seldom filled to spill,
although there have been many surprises where
hydrocarbons were found to structural spill (Wan
Embong et al., 2008). The Miocene clastic play,
which is present in all the super basins in the region,
comprises inversion anticlines and three-way-dip and
fault-controlled traps, commonly with variable fluid
types in stacked reservoirs (Doust, 2017). In the
deep-water areas, key trap types vary from toe thrust
to stratigraphic traps. In both carbonate and clastic
plays, the seal rocks are commonly made up of intra-
formational shales that are very common in deltaic
setting. In some cases, for example, in Luconia and
Sumatra Basins, thick marine shales act as seal that Figure 8. Despite a long exploration history, Southeast Asia
enclose carbonates or basement features. basins continue to deliver giant discoveries over the last decade.
The basement plays in Southeast Asia are made Since 2010, these discoveries have been mainly gas and include
up of diverse basement lithologies from metasedi- (1) Shwe Yee Htun with 1.1 TCF, (2) Kaliberau Dalam with 2 TCF,
ment to igneous rocks. The tectonic history of Sunda- (3) Ken Bau with 3 TCF, (4) Kasawari with 5 TCF, (5) Lang Lebah
land gave rise to a highly complex basement fabric with 3.5 TCF, and (6) Klidang with 1.4 TCF (data from Wood Mac-
kenzie Lens database, 2021).
that varies from area to area and includes profound
and deep structural features that have been reacti-
vated at different times in different ways (Hutchison Discovery in the basement is reemerging after a long
and Tan, 2009). Regional compressional event in the hiatus in Sumatra (e.g., Kaliberau Dalam).
middle Miocene, for example, may uplift the existing Investment in exploration in the region, like in
basement horst structures and create open fractures many parts of the globe, was reduced dramatically
within the basement rock. Hydrocarbon accumula- after the price of oil collapsed in 2014. Demand for
tions are found in areas where fractured basement energy, however, has not. In fact, in the ASEAN
highs are surrounded and capped by source rocks, countries, demand is expected to grow 60% between
most notably in the south of the Greater Sumatra now and 2040 (International Energy Agency, 2020;
Basin, although hydrocarbon has also been found in Figure 9A), driven by significant economic and popu-
the Malay and Cuu Long Basins. A notable example lation growth of approximately 23%. Therefore,
is the Suban field in Sumatra with 5.7 TCF reserves there is an urgent need for new resources to feed this
(Hennings et al., 2012; Mohede et al., 2014; Satyana, economic development.
2019). Many crude and natural gas projects totaling
more than 4 billion BOE are expected to start opera-
tions in the next 5 yr (Figure 9B) and over three quar-
HISTORICAL AND EMERGING TRENDS ters of the planned development in the region is for
gas, according to global data as of May 2019 (Khalid,
Despite the long exploration history in these basins, 2019). Indonesia’s second phase of the giant Senoro
they continue to deliver giant discoveries (Figure 8). gas field and Malaysia’s various greenfield develop-
Recent discoveries have been found in proven ments will contribute approximately 80% of South-
and emerging basins, such as the carbonates in the east Asia’s total crude production.
Central Luconia and deep-water Northwest Sabah The appetite for exploration in Southeast Asia is
Basins (e.g., Lang Lebah and Tepat discoveries). expected to continue to grow to feed the energy

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 (A)

(B)

Figure 9. (A) Southeast Asia oil and gas demands are increasing and current production from its basins cannot meet its domestic demand.
(B) Exploration and production activities are rallying to meet Southeast Asia’s future energy demand by exploring emerging plays, especially
gas, and building facilities for hydrocarbon evacuation. LNG 5 liquefied natural gas; MMBO 5 million barrels of oil; vs 5 versus.

demand. But with its long exploration history, are These recent discoveries were not accidental but
there still giants waiting to be explored in Southeast were the results of new approaches and thinking that
Asia? Recent discoveries such as the aforementioned were undertaken by successful oil and gas companies,
Lang Lebah and Kaliberau Dalam all have significant as well as host nations. In this paper, we suggest three
resources that suggest that the likelihood is high. of the most significant approaches taken to continue

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 to break the creaming curves: (1) challenging dogmas features (Figure 10), are perceived to be risky
and beliefs, (2) replicating success, and (3) innova- because of the possibility of a “blown trap” because
tion. These are best demonstrated with the success these pinnacles are commonly associated with
stories in the next sections. extremely high fluid pressure. The Kasawari pros-
pect had been identified by many operators in the
Challenging Dogmas and Beliefs past but was dismissed as a high-risk prospect
because it was perceived or believed to have been a
Challenging dogmas is about thinking differently, blown or breached trap.
especially against previously held beliefs or ideas However, following a large-scale regional look-
thought to be true. This is best demonstrated by an back by PETRONAS, Malaysia’s national oil com-
example from the Greater Luconia Basin, where suc- pany, it was concluded that the thick shale encasing
cessful exploration of the Miocene carbonates has the prospect is an excellent seal, as observed in
occurred since the 1960s. The Greater Luconia is a many nearby wells, and would be capable of hold-
world-class petroleum basin with mainly gas discov- ing a significant gas column. With this new hypoth-
eries. In this basin, the main play is the Miocene car- esis, the prospect was spudded in November 2011.
bonate buildups. Exploration efforts in the basin The well found almost a kilometer of gas column,
were initially focused on the large platform carbo- making it one of the largest nonassociated gas dis-
nates, where giant discoveries such as F6 and F23 coveries in Malaysia and in the world that year. The
fields with approximately 15 TCF gas were made in well result confirmed that the trap was breached
the early 1970s. Thereafter, attention shifted to the but not severe enough to have fully drained the
more challenging pinnacle reefs. structure.
One such pinnacle is the Kasawari prospect Before the success of Kasawari, there was a
(Figure 10). It is one of the many high-relief pinnacle hiatus in carbonate exploration in the basin
reefs that formed on a structural high, surrounded because of the belief that high-relief prospects are
by transgressive clays and shales that provide excel- high risk, with high pressure and seal integrity
lent top and side seals. High-relief pinnacle reefs, issues. The regional review of all Central Luconia
however, especially those with “seismic sinkhole” pinnacles and the drilling of Kasawari undertaken

Figure 10. Kasawari found 5 TCF gas with >1 km of gas column, one of the 2011 giant discoveries. The “blown trap” feature can be
seen in the seismic section, circled in red. Location in Figure 8. TWT 5 two-way traveltime.

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 by PETRONAS, however, successfully rejuve- that the potential for large finds still exists, and,
nated interest in the play. sometimes, all it requires to find these new successes
Another interesting discovery is Lang Lebah is a change in thinking.
(Jamalullail et al., 2020), which is also a large pinna-
cle reef located approximately 40 km from Kasawari Replicating Success
(Figure 11). Lang Lebah was initially drilled in 1994
but was plugged and abandoned because of opera- Replicating success is about bringing learning and
tional issues—a combination of high pressure and best practices from elsewhere and applying them to
severe mud losses just before it reached the top of new as well as old areas. The best example in this
the carbonate. region could be drawn from the fractured basement
Twenty-five years later, a consortium comprising in Vietnam and Indonesia. In the former, fractured
PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP), PETRO- granitic basement reservoirs are the main contributor
NAS, and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration of oil production, such as in the giant Bach Ho field
Company revisited the long-held beliefs to unlock its in Vietnam (Hung and Le, 2004). In Indonesia, oil
true potential. Lang Lebah was believed to be a tight has been found in the basement in Sumatra and Bar-
carbonate based on the result topmost 50 m section ito Basins in Kalimantan but production has been
penetrated by subsequent legacy wells, Lang Lebah-1 minimal. Although gas has been produced success-
(LL-1) and LL-1RDR (Figure 11). The top seal was fully from the Suban field (5.7 TCF gas reserve) in
also thought incapable of holding any commercial Sumatra, exploration for gas in the basement play
hydrocarbon volume. has been slow because of industry’s focus on oil plays
New seismic data and multidisciplinary work led (Satyana, 2019).
to the identification of reservoir sweet spots and a The recent multi-TCF Kaliberau Dalam gas
revision of the column length. In March 2019, Lang discovery in sub-Cenozoic fractured granites in the
Lebah-1RDR 2 was drilled for the third time and south of the Greater Sumatra Basin may bring back
found gas in excellent carbonate reservoir with more the focus on basement gas exploration in Indonesia
than 400 m total column length. The well also (Figure 12). It is the biggest find in Indonesia in 18 yr,
flowed approximately 40 million SCF/day of gas, since Banyu Urip field was found in Java in 2001, and
and, with its multi-TCF recoverable gas resources, it was one of the top 10 biggest global finds in 2019
is one of the 2019 top global discoveries. (GeoExpro, 2019). The consortium comprising
To date, 98 TCF gas has been found in the Repsol, PETRONAS, and Mitsui Oil Exploration
Greater Luconia Basin, of which 26 TCF were dis- Company took advantage of modern 3-D seismic
covered in the last decade. These examples suggest data to image and predict fracture density and orien-
tation to design the best well trajectory that would
intersect as many faults or fracture zones as possible.
These fractures act as the main hydrocarbon highway.
The Kaliberau Dalam gas discovery serves as a
reminder that the basement is a valid exploration
objective, especially where basement structures are
located adjacent to mature oil or gas source rocks as
proven in the Greater Sumatera Basin. The signifi-
cance placed on the Kaliberau gas discovery in Indo-
nesia hints at the potential for fractured basements to
be a disruptor for Asian LNG.
Another example of replicating success is the
continued rise of deep-water discoveries in South-
Figure 11. Lang Lebah (LL) found significant gas, making it east Asia (Figure 13). The initial success was made in
one of the top 10 discoveries in 2019 (seismic image courtesy of the early 2000s with the discovery of the Kikeh oil
PTT Exploration and Production). Location map in Figure 8. field by Murphy Oil Corporation (Jones et al., 2016;
PsTM 5 pre-stack time migration; RMS 5 root-mean square. Figure 14A). The well, which found oil in the upper

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 Figure 12. New discovery in Kaliberau Dalam field in Sumatra, Indonesia, may be the impetus for the focus on exploration for gas in
the basement in Southeast Asia. Location map in Figure 8.

Miocene to Pliocene deep-water turbidites, was wildcats drilled in the region and contributed quite
another dogma-breaking find given the prevailing significant resources to the region, approximately 11
belief at that time that the deep-water play of billion BOE or 38% of discovered volume (Mair and
Northwest Sabah was gas-prone. Since then, Tan, 2015). Most key discoveries in deep water in
deep-water wildcats accounted for 13% of total new Southeast Asia is distributed around Borneo–

Figure 13. Map showing areas where deep-water exploration was active in Southeast Asia between 2000 and 2014 (Mair and Tan, 2015)

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 (A) (B)

Figure 14. (A) Seismic expression in deep-water Northwest Sabah Basin showing the Kikeh field in the thrust belts (modified after Jones
et al., 2016). The inset map shows the location of seismic lines. (B) Seismic expression of deep-water Kutei Basin showing the location of
Merakes and Jangkrik fields (modified after Roniwibowo et al., 2019). Hor 5 horizon; TWT = two-way traveltime.

Northwest Sabah Basin in Malaysia and Kutei Basin Figure 14B). These Pliocene sands were thought to
in Indonesia (Figure 13). have been charged also from a biogenic source in
In the Northwest Sabah Basin, early deep-water addition to a thermogenic contribution (Saller et al.,
exploration activities were focused in the toe thrust 2006).
areas following the Kikeh play opener. Several repli- Similar to Northwest Sabah, there are several
cate discoveries followed (e.g., Gumusut-Kakap plays in the deep-water Kutei Basin that have not yet
field), and exploration expanded across the basin with been tested. For example, the extension of the
oil being prominent in the southwestern part of the proven Miocene fluvio-deltaic to deep-water sedi-
basin, near the Baram delta, whereas gas dominated ments of the Mahakam delta beyond the midlower
the northeastern part (e.g., Rotan-1 discovery) and in slope, the structural and stratigraphic traps toward
the ultradeep-water Baram delta province in Brunei the basin floor, and the Eocene-Miocene carbonates
(e.g., Kelidang NE-1, Keratau-1, and Kempas-1 dis- (Satyana, 2017).
coveries; Figure 8). Most of the discoveries in the toe Geographically, a large part of the deep-water
thrust setting were targeting structural traps. areas in Northwest Sabah and Kutei Basins remain
The challenge to delineate the complex sand dis- relatively underexplored. This fact is illustrated in the
tribution, however, remains. Turbidites were derived two maps from Westwood Energy, showing wells
from a narrow shelf and transported down an unsta- drilled since 2008 (Figure 15). These maps highlight
ble slope, where syndepositional, thrust-modified the bias toward shallow-water wells but, more impor-
slope topography influenced sand distribution down tantly, the scarcity of wells in very large parts of the
and along the slope. Given the complexity of the sed- basins, especially in the ultra-deep-water areas.
imentary fill, it is no surprise that the synkinematic A new, interesting play is emerging in Northwest
sands deposited in structural lows and the deeper, Sabah deep water, which may replicate the success
prekinematic sands and their lateral extension into of the Oligocene–Miocene carbonates in other parts
other parts of the basins have not been fully tested in of Southeast Asia. This play was proven in the Pala-
this basin. wan Trough in the Philippines with the discovery of
In the Kutei Basin of Indonesia, only the Pliocene the Malampaya field in the last millennium; however,
slope channels of the Mahakam delta have been it was not pursued in the adjacent Northwest Sabah
proven over the last two decades with discoveries Basin, largely because of deeper water depth and
such as Eni’s 2.5 TCF in-place gas at Jangkrik and 2 absence of good seismic data. The 2018 Tepat-1 well
TCF in-place gas at Merakes (Meciani and Orsi, 2018; drilled by the consortium of Total, PETRONAS, and

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 Figure 15. Offshore Sabah and Sarawak Basins, Malaysia, and Kutei Basin, Indonesia, showing wells by water depth since 2008. Loca-
tion of a recent successful well, Tepat-1, is shown.

Shell, therefore, called for a celebration when the the Sabah Trough that could provide a focus for
consortium successfully tested a frontier Oligocene– future exploration drilling.
Miocene carbonate play and found significant oil and If we continue with the theme of replicating suc-
gas pay in >2800 m of water depth (Figure 16). The cess, then the synrift may be the next, and last, fron-
Tepat discovery was a breakthrough in replicating tier play to pursue in the deep-water basins of
success and testing a new idea in these frontier areas. Southeast Asia. The synrift play and synrift lacus-
The play relies on the presence of an Eocene to Oli- trine source rocks have contributed to key discover-
gocene source rock within the Eocene–lower Oligo- ies in the Song Hon Basin in Vietnam, Pearl River
cene synrift or an early postrift shallow marine source Mouth Basin in China, as well as in the Gulf of Thai-
rock, coeval with the deposition of the carbonate res- land. The Eocene to Oligocene synrift sediments,
ervoirs. The Tepat discovery has opened a new observed on both two-dimensional and 3-D seismic
exploration play in the Northwest Sabah Basin and data in all these basins including Sabah, Greater
many interesting carbonate features are observed in Luconia, and Kutei Basins (Figure 6A–E), remain
the recently acquired (2014–2017) regional multi- untested and may offer future deep-water explora-
client 3-D data (18,000 km2), covering much of tion opportunities.

Figure 16. Tepat is a deep-water oil and gas discovery in Oligocene–Miocene carbonates in the underexplored Sabah Trough (seismic
image courtesy of TotalEnergies). Location in Figure 15. MC3D 5 multiclient three-dimensional seismic data; PSDM 5 pre-stack depth
migration.

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 Innovate the region will have almost doubled to 322 billion
cubic meters (BCM) (1137 BCF) from 172 BCM
Innovate is about simply doing things differently and (6074 BCF) in 2019, based on data from Interna-
using technology as new ways of working. Since tional Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook 2020.
Southeast Asia is a gas-rich region, it is poised for a Even under the sustainable development scenario,
low-carbon future and in meeting the increasing gas Southeast Asian gas demand is forecast to climb to
demand for both domestic and industrial uses 50% to 260 BCM (9182 BCF) by 2040 (International
throughout the region. Energy Agency, 2020). This implies exploration and
Across the world, 40% of the world’s gas is burned development for gas is expected to increase in the
in power plants. In Southeast Asia, however, 60% of coming years.
gas is channeled to power plants (International Energy However, innovative solutions are needed to mon-
Agency, 2020). Without gas, the region lacks the etize some of the gas discoveries that are somewhat
capacity to generate electricity to its 650 million remote from infrastructure. As a major LNG player,
inhabitants. In view of the low average per capita PETRONAS introduced the first floating LNG
income of Southeast Asian nations, gas can be consid- (PFLNG1) in Malaysia and to the world to address
ered as the fuel to reduce poverty by providing univer- such a challenge. The PFLNG1 was successful in deliv-
sal access to clean and sustainable electricity. ering LNG in the Kanowit field in Sarawak in 2017
Southeast Asia’s gas demand continues to rise and is currently working at the Kebabangan Cluster
rapidly. In two decades, by 2040, gas consumption in field in deep-water Sabah. Given the success of

(A)

(B)

Figure 17. Example of new ways of working and continuous improvements in petroleum arrangements to attract different players
including (A) enhancement in the fiscal and nonfiscal terms, simplification of bidding process to boost more value creation in mature basin
and accelerate gas exploration and development, and (B) data enrichment through multiclient data acquisition activities in frontier
basins and open data access. 2-D 5 two-dimensional; 3-D 5 three-dimensional; DW 5 deep water; Expl 5 exploration; HP 5 high pres-
sure; HT 5 high temperature; PSC 5 production sharing contract; PVB 5 progressive volume based; R/C 5 revenue over cost model.

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 PFLNG1, PETRONAS has launched a second floating packages to provide easy access to data, to create more
LNG, PFLNG2, capable of operating in water depths value from the mature basins as well as unlocking new
of up to 1500 m, which sailed away to the Rotan field ones in the frontier area.
in deep-water Sabah in February 2019, thus opening
more gas exploration opportunities in these frontier
areas.
CONCLUSIONS
Another challenge to gas monetization in the
region is managing contaminants, such as carbon
Given its globally unique and complex regional geol-
dioxide, that are found in abundance in the many gas
ogy, Southeast Asia offers a diverse set of opportuni-
fields in the region. However, given the importance
ties from high-impact frontier to mature basins, and,
of gas as the “transition fuel” and energy demand,
despite its long exploration history, giant discoveries
efforts are underway to develop these gas fields while
continue to be made both in its proven and underex-
adhering to the commitment for a low carbon foot-
plored super basins. Huge potential remains in
print. Development of the giant Kasawari field, for
mature, emerging, and frontier basins with at least 30
example, will make use of proven and new PETRO-
billion BOE of prospective resources.
NAS in-house technologies for carbon capture and
New plays and/or new concepts have been suc-
sequestration, and injection into depleted reservoirs
cessful in the mature basins of Sumatra and Luconia,
in a nearby field. The final investment decision is
whereas the underexplored deep-water Sabah and
planned for 2023 with full carbon capture and stor-
Kutei Basins will be a testing ground for new ideas in
age facilities implementation by 2025. This is very
much in line with PETRONAS’ commitment to net the future. New plays in remote or previously inacces-
zero carbon emissions by 2050. sible areas will provide exciting opportunities in greater
Southeast Asian governments have also been Southeast Asia, for example, in ultra-deep-water
relentless in their efforts to stimulate exploration Northwest Sabah, Northeast Sabah/Sulu Sea, deep-
activities in the region and have put in numerous water Papua New Guinea, and deep-water Vietnam.
incentives. In Malaysia, where PETRONAS is both a After a record year in 2019, the new decade will
regulator and operator, PETRONAS the regulator see more wildcat wells, in addition to appraisals of
has continuously improved the fiscal terms to make previous discoveries (e.g., Repsol’s Kali Berau Dalam,
sure that opportunities remain attractive and valu- Eni’s Ken Bau, PTTEP’s Lang Lebah) to prove up
able for investors. For example, when deep-water commerciality ahead of development planning. Key
exploration started in Malaysia in 1994, PETRONAS wells to watch in the coming years will be the
designed and formulated distinct sets of deep-water Repsol-PETRONAS Rencong well in the north of
fiscal terms, taking into consideration the geological the Greater Sumatra Basin targeting a giant gas pros-
risk and high development capital expenditures pect and Total’s Mailu well in Papua New Guinea
required with increasing water depths (Figure 17). targeting a giant oil prospect in more than 2000 m of
In addition to improvement in fiscal terms, water, potentially opening a new ultra-deep offshore
PETRONAS also embarked on multiple efforts to play in the Papuan Basin.
ensure fair returns to investors. One example is to It is no surprise that the majority of Southeast
enrich availability of various data types and make Asia’s future wells will be drilled in deep-water as the
it easy for investors to gain access to data for postrift turbidities and Oligocene–Miocene carbo-
decision-making. PETRONAS undertook exten- nates offer exciting plays in present-day deep water
sive data enrichment programs, such as acquisition that are still underexplored. This is very much in line
of multiclient seismic data in the frontier area, with IHS Markit’s view that the realistic hopes for
geochemical sampling, and studies. “giant” fields in Southeast Asia would be either deep
In Indonesia, land and building tax exemptions for water, as exemplified by the deep-water areas like
22 onshore/offshore exploration blocks and the gross- Kutei’s upper Miocene-Pliocene play and Northwest
split production sharing contract (introduced in 2017) Sabah deep water in Malaysia, or more remote areas,
are continuously being improved. In addition, Indone- such as West Papua in Indonesia, where new play
sian authorities have launched more accessible data ideas and modern technology may be deployed.

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