Publications

The South Sumatra Basin is identified as a mature basin that has been explored for more than 100 years. There are more than 300 producing oil and gas fields and hundreds of exploration wells have been drilled in the area. The basin has produced approximately 2.6 billion barrels of oil (BBO) and nearly 11.4 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas (IHS, 2016). Medco’s Blocks are located in the middle of the South Sumatra Basin, with production coming from the Miocene carbonates of Baturaja Fm., the Oligocene to Lower Miocene Talang Akar Fm., and the Pre-Tertiary Basement play. Although these plays are already heavily explored, they still offer significant remaining potential in several areas. The Musi platform, one of the main producing areas, is a local paleo-high which remains high to date, with several large carbonate fields present. Production decline is not the only problem for the area. The remaining prospects and leads are small in areal extent, drilling costs are increasing, land clearance permits are an issue, and the decline in the oil price has had a significant impact on exploration activities. There are many small shallow structures near existing facilities with relatively low geological risk which could be attractive if a clustering system is applied. If an anchor prospect could be successfully and economically developed then the surrounding satellite prospects could be attractive as well. Focusing exploration on finding the right target in the right place at a low cost with an appropriate strategy has become the prominent approach. Basin characterization has been conducted by using a chronostratigraphic approach to address this challenge. It offers better definition for petroleum system analysis, allows better risk definition and helps locate potential new opportunities from new play concepts in overlooked areas.