China claims “indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and adjacent waters” based on centuries’ old rights that allow its maritime border to reach almost to Borneo; these claims bring it into dispute with Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan.
This renewed interest is based on China’s need for resources and its assessment that there may be 200 billion barrels of oil, as well as 2,000 Tcf of gas, under the South China Sea. Does the history, and recent experience, of exploration in this region – and in South East Asia more generally - indicate that such huge resources may remain undiscovered and if Yes, where might they be?
Reflecting on the raw data of South East Asian exploration success rates, discovery sizes and finding costs, both Wood Mackenzie# and IHS# assert that:
Thus, this broad brush summary would suggest that much of SE Asia is Mature for exploration. However, SE Asia is large with a complex geological history and complex politics and Longley
has pointed out that recent and planned activity gives plenty of encouragement at the play level:
Where are the “Giants” lying in wait? The hopes for “Giant” fields would either be Deep Water – as exemplified by the Deepwater Pearl River Mouth and some of Indonesia - or more remote areas – as exemplified by West Papua, in both cases where new play ideas and new technology may be deployed.
Equally, it must be said that some areas, such as the Makassar Straits, have proved disappointing and that the technical approach# to some of the onshore areas - such as onshore Borneo; northern Thailand - seems to be bereft of any modern technologies, for example gravity gradiometry or wireless (3D) seismic.
Our February Forum, organised in conjunction with SEAPEX (South East Asia Petroleum Exploration Society), will examine where big fields and major resoruces remain to be discovered.
as presented at the SEAPEX Conference, Singapore, April 2011. For further information,
.
David Bamford is a geophysicist by background and an explorer by recent history, and is well known as both around the oil & gas industry. In addition to acting as a director or advisor to several small companies, including his own consultancy, he writes regularly for journals such as OilVoice, ROGTEC etc, and has recently co-founded OilVoice Forums as a vehicle for on-line communication in the oil & gas industry.
He is a non executive Director of Tullow Oil (since 2004, and is a member of the Audit, Nominations and Remuneration Committees).
With a PhD in Geological Sciences from the University of Birmingham, he has had over 23 years exploration experience with BP where he was Chief Geophysicist from 1990 to 1995, General Manager for West Africa from 1995 to 1998, and acted as Vice President, Exploration, directing BP's global exploration programme, from 2001 to 2003.
New Eyes Exploration
New Eyes Exploration, founded by David Bamford, explores new ways to discover Oil and Gas.
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Manager in the Research & Advisory practice at Energy Intelligence Group, focusing on above-ground country risk for upstream investors.
Specialties - Country risk; politics and oil sector developments in Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Yemen and the Gulf states
Energy Intelligence
Energy Intelligence has been a leading independent provider of objective insight, unbiased analysis and reliable data for 60 years. With offices in New York, London, Houston, Dubai, Moscow, Washington, Singapore and Brussels, we provide decision-makers with critically important information on issues and events affecting the global energy complex.
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Andrew Lodge joined Premier’s Board as Exploration Director in April 2009 from Hess where he was Vice President, Exploration, responsible for Europe, North Africa, Asia and Australia for nine years. Previously, he was Vice President, Exploration, Asset Manager and Group Exploration Advisor for BHP Petroleum, based in London and Australia. Prior to joining BHP Petroleum, Andrew worked for BP as a geophysicist. He has an honours degree in Mining Geology from the University of Wales and a Masters in Applied Geophysics from the University of Leeds. He is a fellow of the Geological Society.
Premier Oil
Premier Oil plc is a leading independent oil and gas company with producing interests in the UK, Indonesia, Pakistan and Mauritania.
Exploration and appraisal is ongoing in the UK, South and South East Asia and Africa.
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SEAPEX, or the South East Asia Petroleum Exploration Society is a non-profit organization that was established in 1973. A voluntary organization SEAPEX has developed itself to have over 1,600 active members worldwide.
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Talk Description.
An in-depth study of much of the published geological data for the South-East Asia region has been carried out by Neftex over the past five years. This has involved the calibration of the regional stratigraphy to a proprietary global sequence stratigraphic model by using the available biostratigraphic data. Mega-Regional stratigraphic correlations from basin to basin make it possible to evaluate petroleum systems elements both in terms of their relationship to global sequence systems tracts as well as their relevance to regional or local tectonic events. The global eustatic signal is affected by the interaction of tectonics and will thus be enhanced or dampened locally. Distinguishing which tectonic events are localised or more widespread is not only useful in aiding speculation on their causal mechanisms but also has significant importance in determining the deposition and distribution of potential source rock and reservoir units in underexplored basins. |
Neftex is completing the build of the first commercially-available Earth Model to be constructed using high-frequency sequence stratigraphic principals. This work started in mid-2003, is currently supported by 15 oil companies and has so far taken some 200 man-years of effort. In addition, Neftex provide G&G consulting services utilising similar interpretation technologies. Both these divisions are supported by our Technology team who ensure maximum efficiency across our business.
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Talk Description.
Onshore oil and gas seeps are well known across SE Asia and drew the early explorers to the region as far back as 1865, with the first commercial success coming soon after in 1885 in N.E. Sumatra and the formation of the Royal Dutch Company in 1880. The rest is history.
Offshore seepage detection using multiple pass, satellite SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) is now established as a viable exploration technology for screening offshore basins for active oil seeps, especially in remote or deep water basins. However, the technique is not universally effective and best results require both optimal acquisition conditions (specifically wind speed) and a leaky basin system. Such seepage enhancement factors can be basin overpressure, recent or present day generation from rich oil -prone source rocks, active tectonics and high GOR oils. In parts of S.E. Asia, many of these key controls on trap leakage exist, particularly in tectonically active basins with shallow cutting faults to surface. However, some geochemical factors such as the waxy (low GOR) nature of lacustrine oils from the Palaeogene syn-rift mega-sequences may mitigate against seep formation in contrast to leakage from the Miocene post-rift mega-sequences.
The issue of heavy ship pollution in some parts of SE Asia plus the link between enhanced seepage and earthquake activity will also be explored. |
Graduated back in the Jurassic era in Geology from Swansea and in Geochemistry from Leeds.
Over 40 years experience, 30 of them in the oil and gas industry.
Joined BP in 1979, initially to run the Geochemistry Review Group and latterly as the lead interpreter for BP’s high profile ALF Project. This culminated in him running a highly successful integrated seep detection project in the Gulf of Mexico – the Glass Clock Project – immediately after which he was made redundant in the Lord Bowne purge of 1992.
Since then has transitioned to the dark side as a contractor and has worked with a number of service companies including World Geoscience, NRSC (now Infoterra) and, saving the best for last, NPA (Nigel Press Associates) who were painlessly subsumed into the Fugro mother ship in April 2008.
Fugro NPA Ltd
Fugro NPA is the world leader in satellite interpretation for the oil and gas industry. Their services include GOSD, the Global Offshore Seep Database. An ArcGIS database containing over 11,000 interpreted SAR images. Onshore geological interpretation projects; combining imagery, DEMs, fracture analysis and 3D modelling. INSAR; ground subsidence studies of mature fields and monitoring of CCS sites.
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Talk Description.
Phu Khanh Basin, offshore Vietnam; One of the Last Exploration Frontier in SE Asia
Kjell Bugge Johansen* , Andrew Botsford* and Suvimol Maingarm**
PGS, in cooperation with PetroVietnam, has acquired approximately 14,540 km of modern long offset MC2D seismic data in the Phu Khanh Basin (PKB), located in the south-western part of the South China Sea . In addition, a further 2,688 km was acquired to the southeast mostly over and close to the present South China Sea spreading center.
The area is structurally complex, with several different structural trends. Seismic data, supported by gravity and magnetic data clearly demonstrates that the one of main structural trend over the north-eastern part of area has a NNE-SSW orientation. The coastal area is dominated by a N-S trend, referred to as the East Vietnam Fault Zone (EVFZ), which is the southern extension of the Red River Fault Zone.
The area has two main tectono-stratigraphic units, defining separate phases of rifting followed by compression. The first unit comprises an initial rift phase of Paleogene (?Late Eocene-Oligocene) age which has up to 2-3 km of sediment fill, believed to comprised mainly of continental-lacustrine clastics, indicated by their seismic character. The sediment along EVFZ has undergone a significant phase of inversion/compression, probably in the Late Oligocene, related to transpressional wrench movement along the EVFZ. This movement has also created one of the main trap types in PKB The second tectono-stratigraphic unit results from a basin wide rift phase in the Early-Mid Miocene, which was followed by a second phase of compression and basin inversion in the Mid-Late Miocene. The Late Miocene – Pliocene time was dominated by a sag phase with deposition of up to 3s TWT of sediment in the deepest part of the PKB, and deposition of extensive slope and basin floor fans.
The seismic data demonstrates the presence of a large number of structural leads defined by Paleogene rotated fault blocks and horsts, where some have been modified by later compression in Late Oligocene and Mid Miocene creating structural traps and e combined structural/stratigraphic leads. Some of these leads have the potential to be very large. The reservoirs for the Paleogene plays consist of continental, fluvial sandstone reservoirs hosted in the syn-rift section. Middle-Early Miocene reservoirs are most likely shallow marine-deltaic clastics. In addition, reefs and platform type carbonates are believed to be developed on some of the structural highs. The area also has very extensive sequences of stacked slope and basin floor turbidites in the central and northern part of the area, which may represent an excellent play.
The presence of gas chimneys and oil seeps along the coastal areas, plus oil in wells (such as 124-CMT-01X along the margin of the PKB and Tri Ton Horst), and the recent large gas discovery in block 118 indicates that the area has a working petroleum system. It is believed that non-marine to marginal marine or lacustrine mudstones and coals/coaly mudstones confined to the Paleogene syn-rift basins represent the main source rocks in this area. These are up to 3 km thick in parts of the PKB. The seismic character in some of the rift basins also supports the presence of a non-marine depositional environment. Early Miocene coaly mudstones may also represent a potential source, where it is buried deep enough to be thermally mature.
The PKB is non-explored and represents one of the last frontier areas along the Vietnam East Sea margin. It may have significant commercial hydrocarbon potential, due to the presence of a working petroleum system and numerous leads. The main risks are the presence of valid reservoir rocks, quality and level of maturation of source rocks, and risk of high CO2
* Petroleum Geo-Services, Singapore
**Petroleum Geo-Services, Houston
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Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) offers a broad range of products including; seismic and electromagnetic services, data acquisition, processing, reservoir analysis/interpretation and multi-client library data. They help oil companies to find oil and gas reserves worldwide, offshore and onshore.
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