Publications

Indonesia exploration and production activities have started since the early 20 century predominantly in the Western part of the country. Onshore activities and shallow depth technology resulted in massive exploration and discoveries in Western Indonesia which became the production backbone for the nation, and is still desired by many investors today. Advancement in technology allows deeper survey and drilling which revealed new objectives that need further exploration activities. Dominating the offshore area, Eastern Indonesia exploration activities have benefited from these technologies which strive to unlock the tectonic complexity. The complicated tectonic settings and limited exploration activities have resulted in play concepts and leads inventory that require confirmation and proof. Since Eastern Indonesia basins are less explored than in the Western Indonesia, the available sparse offset data often do not have any relation or correlation to a particular basin. Exploration activity in Eastern Indonesia is in early stage to confirm tectonic setting and identify prospects. Although it only offers 20% exploration success ratio at present, the risk is partly offset by big resource potential. Since the two regions pose different challenges, defining exploration strategy in Eastern Indonesia needs to be different than that in Western Indonesia. Eastern Indonesia, with its large resource potential, becomes the hope for future exploration success. Massive data acquisition is required to overcome the lack of data and solve geological uncertainties in order to obtain new discoveries. Together with high investment in technology, managing risks and strategy with contingencies is a must to be successful in exploring this region. Meanwhile, Western Indonesia has a higher success ratio but less volume potential, requiring specific strategy in evaluating the prospects. We recommend a “Structure-Not-Closure” exploration strategy since defining the closure is the key challenge in this region. SKK Migas, whose role is to monitor the exploration activity within Indonesia, has been carrying basin scale studies to compile all data available and generate better understanding of the basins.