Abstract: Emerging Exploration Areas in Southeast Asia

Allen G. Hatley

As the exploration boom in Southeast Asia slowed in the early 1980s, a number of frontier exploration areas in the region were bypassed or ignored, in favor of drilling the many less risky prospects. During the last decade, although a few new frontier exploration areas in Southeast Asia were drilled, the overall worldwide reduction in exploring high-risk areas has ensured that, at present, a number of prospective but underexplored frontier exploration areas still exist in Southeast Asia.

This talk will look at a number of emerging exploration areas where there is a good potential for the discovery of hydrocarbons in Southeast Asia. The talk will also briefly examine what the petroleum potential in each of these areas might be.

Among the areas that are reviewed in this paper are Sri Lanka, South China Sea, Shan Plateau, Laos, Andaman Sea, selected areas in the Philippines, onshore China, and several other areas.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90986©1994 AAPG Annual Convention, Denver, Colorado, June 12-15, 1994