Publications

Due to complex fault geometry, exploring hydrocarbon potential in the fold-thrust belts (FTB) remains a significant challenge. The main issue is the difficulty of mapping faults in the subsurface because of limited seismic data. In most cases, seismic reflection data in FTB is characterized by poor images, resulting in difficulty interpreting. In addition, structural traps within FTB are often small and discontinuous, bound by a complex thrust fault system. The Central Range FTB Papua is a wide deformation belt trending NW-SE with a length of more than 300 km, characterized by rugged topography with various elevations ranging from 500 m to more than 4000 m. This belt continues across the country boundary to PNG for over a couple of hundred kilometers. To the south, this FTB is bounded by a large foreland basin. In PNG, the FTB and the foreland basin are prolific hydrocarbon basins where several oil and gas fields were discovered and developed. In the Papua FTB, evidence of hydrocarbon was discovered in two exploration wells near the border within the Warim Block in the early nineties. However, exploration activity has yet to be further conducted. This paper presented the results of the hydrocarbon prospect of the Warim block using integrated surface, subsurface, and regional gravity data, including newly acquired Full Tensor Gravity (FTG) data. Our evaluation indicates that the Warim block has a significant potential for hydrocarbon accumulation, where further exploration must be done.