Petroleum Play Potential in the Thrust and Fold Belt Zone of the Offshore Timor-Tanimbar, Eastern Indonesia

Abstract

The collision zone in the outer Banda Arc has become one of the important petroleum exploration targets in eastern Indonesia region. There are some fields that produce hydrocarbon from collision zones in those area, such as the Bula and Oseil oil fields in Seram and the Tiaka Field in Eastern Sulawesi. The study aims to reveal the petroleum potential in thrust and the fold belt of the Timor-Tanimbar region as a product of the collision along the Banda Arc. Surface and subsurface data integrated with some previous researches are utilized in this study. The data include 2D seismic, isostatic residual anomaly gravity, and hydrocarbon indication from the result of coreseep geochemistry analysis. The integration of all the data lead to the building of the play concept in thrust and fold belt zone within the study area. The petroleum play concept in the thrust and fold belt zone of the study area is supported by proven petroleum elements developed since Mesozoic. The petroleum trap of thrust and fold system was generated by the collision of Australian continental plate and Banda Arc during Plio-Pleistocene. This process is also responsible for the increase of the sediment thickness, which triggered the generation and expulsion of hydrocarbon then followed by the migration towards the thrusted anticline traps to the south.