Publications

Sulawesi is a frontier petroleum exploration province with proven hydrocarbon source rocks, reservoir rocks, generating kitchen areas and, most importantly, hydrocarbon accumulations (Coffield et al., 1993) (Fig. 1). Western Sulawesi, eastern Kalimantan, the Java Sea and the Makassar Straits experienced widespread early Tertiary extensional basin formation. The transgressive sequences filling these basins are commonly composed of basal nonmarine clastics passing upwards into marginal-marine sediments overlain in turn by carbonates and finally deeper marine shales. Proven source rocks are found in deltaic coals associated with the early transgressive sequences. Late Tertiary magmatism and subsequent Pliocene orogenesis has resulted in the formation of multiple kitchen areas within portions of these basins adjacent to structural and stratigraphic traps capable of containing migrating hydrocarbons. Potential reservoirs are found throughout the late Tertiary section (Fig. 2), although only Late Miocene-Pliocene (post-magmatidpre-orogenic) carbonates have proven productive to date in South Sulawesi.