Geology and Tectonic Evolution of Bird Head Region Papua, Indonesia: Implication for Hydrocarbon Exploration in the Eastern Indonesia

Sapiie, Benyamin¹; Naryanto, Naryanto²; Adyagharini, Aileron¹; Pamumpuni, Astyka¹
¹Geology, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung, Indonesia.
²Exploration, DITJEN MIGAS, Jakarta, Indonesia.

The Bird Head Region is located in the western part of Papua Island and is one the most geological complex region in the Eastern part of Indonesia. This region is known as one of the most hydrocarbon prolific area in Indonesia. Two major oil and gas producing basin was discovered in the region namely Salawati and Bintuni Basin. Numerous work and publication have been done in the area to ramification geologic history of the region. However, the geology and structural evolution of the region are poorly known due to limited data over the region, particularly in relation to hydrocarbon distribution. In addition, several recent results of exploration drilling have been generated major disappointment for continuity future exploration in the region. One of the main problems is related to the origin and tectonic evolution of Bird Head region. This paper is presenting result of ongoing study in ramification the problems using tectono-straigraphy approach generated from integrated fieldwork and subsurface data evaluation (2D seismic and well data).

There are several different published proposed model of the origin of the Bird Head Region. However, most of the model was not supported by enough subsurface data. Understanding stratigraphy from various different location within the region and detail structural evolution is one of the most important task in solving origin of Bird Head. Our newly proposed model generates from conducting numerous 2D and 3D palinspatic reconstructions from several different location in the regions using integrated surface and subsurface geological information. It is clearly that deformation of the region was varies from area to area indicating that the region was experienced several translation and rotation during their history. Using structural reconstructions we develops several representative paleogeography of the region showing distribution of Jurassic and Tertiary reservoir including their petroleum system. Hopefully, our new model can help in locating new exploration target area.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90155©2012 AAPG International Conference & Exhibition, Singapore, 16-19 September 2012