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2025

September 2025: Sunda Asri Basin, Indonesia

2017
The full version of Indonesian basins are available in CD format, purchaseable in:
Tokopedia: https://www.tokopedia.com/indogeo
E-bay: http://www.ebay.com.sg/itm/292470696341?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

2014
April 2014: Nam Con Song Basin, Vietnam (main contributor: Tony Swiecicki)
April 2014: Additional seismic on Sandakan Basin after Futalan et al, 2012.
February 2014: Makassar Strait, Indonesia (updates with PGS sections)

2013
December 2013: Song Hong Basin, Vietnam (main contributor: Michael Fyhn)
June 2013: The Lesser Sunda Islands (Darman, 2013)

2012
Apr 2012: Seram Sea (Darman & Reemst, 2012)
August 2012: Timor Sea (Darman, 2012)

2011
Feb 2011: Sumatra Forearc and Andaman seismic
Jul 2011: Baram Basin seismic (Cullen, 2011)
Oct 2011: North Sulawesi Basin (Darman, 2011)

Introduction

Proposal and invitation to potential contributors

Background

Significant number of quality seismic lines were acquired from Southeast Asia basins, showing world-class geological features. Those data are scattered and/or not easily accessible to public users. This atlas opens the opportunity for geoscientists to see interesting seismic features in this region in one integrated volume, with their geological backgrounds.

Team (Contributors and Reviewers)
Anantasena - BPPT - Indonesia
Andrew Cullen - Chesapeake Energy, Oklahoma City, OK, USA

Awang Satyana - BPMIGAS - Indonesia
A. Pulunggono - Pertamina - Indonesia
Dieter Franke - BGR - Germany
Duddy Ranawijaya - Geo Marine Survey - Indonesia

Dwandari Ralanarko - Pertamina - Indonesia
Harry Doust - Amsterdam Univ. - Netherland
Henry Posamentier - CHEVRON - USA
Herman Darman - INDOGEO Social Enterprise (chief editor)
Kjell Johansen - PGS - Singapore

Lilik Prasetya - Independent Consultant - Indonesia 
Michael B. W. Fyhn - Geus - Denmark
Minarwan - Conrad (co-editor)
Owen Dyer - FUGRO - Australia
Peter Baillie -TGS NOPEC - Australia
Ridwan Djamaluddin - BPPT - Indonesia

Roberto Fainstein - WesternGeco - India
Robert Hall - Royal Halloway - UK
Sigit Sukmono -ITB - Indonesia
Simon Irwin - PGS - Indonesia
Steve Toothill - CGGVeritas - Indonesia
Tony Swiecicki - Murphy - Vietnam
Yusuf Djajadihardja - BPPT - Indonesia

Note: The name list above is in alphabetical order by first name. If you prefer us not to display your name, please contact the coordinator: Herman Darman

Publication
In the first phase, the seismic sections will be displayed on this website. The team will contribute their interpretations and comments on the sections compiled.

Once significant quality and quantity images were compiled, the committee aimed to publish A3-size hard copies with colors and/or in CD. Each basin will be covered in an atlas chapter with minimum 2 pages and maximum of 6 pages of A3 paper (landscape orientation), see below the template and example of this potential publication. Contributors are expected to send seismic sections, location map of the sections, related well information if available, regional geological map and cartoon cross section, 3D model etc.

Currently the team is investigating potential publisher for the atlas.

Template

For proposed template for the A3 publication, click here

For example of the atlas, click here

Data Provider

The data published in this website came from different sources, mainly published literature. Some data provider provide published seismic images, and the web editor would like to thank the following companies:

West Palawan Basins

The West Palawan Basin is located in the west of Palawan Island, southwest of the Philippines. A lateral fault called  Ulugan Bay Fault separates the basin to NW and SW Palawan Basin. The NW Palawan basin is known for its Nido Limestone formation which is the reservoir of the Malampaya Field. The age of Nido Limestone formation is range from Late Oligocene to Early Miocene. The SW Palawan Basin is dominated by a younger limestone formation called Likas Formation which was deposited in the Upper Miocene until Early Pliocene.

• Northwest Palawan Basin

A seismic section displayed in Pictin Petroleum website is an example of a 3D seismic in Block or Service Contract (SC) 6A, Octon Block, Offshore NW Palawan, Philippines. This seismic line is NW-SE in orientation across East Berselisa and West Malajon structure. The Nido Limestone formation is displayed here as a blue horizon.

There are more seismic available which cover the Malampaya Field. This seismic lines show the character of the carbonat. It is possible to observe its carbonate framework and facies development within the limestone based on seismic.

• SW Palawan

Location of seismic lines in Ma Corazon Victor Sta's thesis, 2006

The Southwest Palawan basin has more Neogene Limestone deposit, which is called Likas Formation. A thesis by Ma. Corazon Victor Sta. Ana include a number of good quality seismic lines which show interesting carbonate features and structures.

The seismic displayed covers the southern part of the SW Palawan Basin.

Seismic profile along the southern portion of strike line DPS93-4b. (a) Unintrepreted
(b) Interpreted. Note generally steeper south-facing side of platform is steeper and north-facing
margin has gentler slopes, which reflects prevailing wind direction during platform growth.
Faults above the carbonate strata could be due to compaction. Vertical scale is in milliseconds
two way time.

Source: Ma. Corazon Victor Sta. Ana (2006)

Seismic profile along strike line PA-105. (a) Uninterpreted. (b) Interpreted.
The profile shows a broad, flat-top platform with late growth stage pinnacle reefs at the margins.
Note steep slope and high platform-to-basin relief at the northern edge of the platform.
Clinoforms in the northwestern part of the line shows syntectonic platform growth. Vertical scale
is in milliseconds two way time. Seismic profile along dip line

Source: Ma. Corazon Victor Sta. Ana (2006)

Seismic profile along strike line PA-107 showing the backstepping carbonate
platform. Platform top of Pink sequence shows higher platform-to-basin relief. Vertical scales is
in milliseconds two way time.


Source: Ma. Corazon Victor Sta. Ana (2006)

Seismic profile along strike line PA-113 showing basinal and platform margin
facies. (a) Uninterpreted (b) Interpreted. Note onlap of basinal facies on flanks of the isolated
platform. Vertical scale is in milliseconds two way time.

Source: Ma. Corazon Victor Sta. Ana (2006)

Seismic profile along dip line PA-134. (a) Uninterpreted (b) Interpreted. This profile
shows the tilted platform on the eastern part of the study area. Notice the chaotic seismic facies
at the zone of uplift. This is probably due to fracturing caused by the uplift or karstification.
Vertical scale is in milliseconds two way time.

Source: Ma. Corazon Victor Sta. Ana (2006)

PA-136 showing varied platform morphology. (a) Unintrepreted (b) Interpreted. Faults significantly affected the platform architecture. Vertical scale is in milliseconds two way time.

Source: Ma. Corazon Victor Sta. Ana (2006)

Seismic profile along dip line PA-138. Faulting significantly modified the platform morpholody. Note the differences in platform morphology. Vertical scale is in milliseconds two way time

Source: Ma. Corazon Victor Sta. Ana (2006)

Seismic profile along strike line SP97-01. (a) Uninterpreted, (b) Interpreted. Faulting controlled seismic facies location (arrows) which indicate a strong tectonic effect during the platform growth. Vertical scale is in milliseconds two way time.

Luconia / Sarawak Basin

Luconia Basin is located offshore Sarawak, Malaysia


NW-SE seismic profile across Luconia Platform and Mid. Miocene Balingian Delta and rift in deewater. Rectangle shows location of the following seismic line (Source: Thies et al., 2006)

Detail of part of seismic line above, showing listric fault bounding half graben, with rift and post-rift deposit (Source: Thies et al., 2006)

Seismic line showing rift cycles in half graben.

Seismic line CD89-110 (Mulu-1 Tie Line) showing log of Mulu-1 and rift cycles 1 and 2 on horst.

Reference: Structural and Stratigraphic Development of Extensional Basins: A Case Study Offshore Deepwater Sarawak and Northwest Sabah, Malaysia, By: Kenneth Thies, Mansor Ahmad, Hamdan Mohamad, Richard Bischke, Jeffrey Boyer, and Daniel
Tearpock, Search and Discovery Article #10103 (2006)

Phu Khanh Basin

Phu Khanh Basin, Vietnam

Phu Khanh Basin is located in the offshore east Vietnam. The bathymetry in this area is relatively steep as it change from several tens of meters to more than 1000 m in less than 100 km.

Key seismic sections are displayed here.
A. Seismic section showing the northern margin of Phu Khanh Basin, towards Song Hong Basin. These two basins are separated by basement high. (source AAPG)

B. Seismic section showing the southern margin of Phu Khanh Basin. The section crossed the basement high which separate Phu Khanh Basin and Cuu Long Basin. (source AAPG)

C. W-E Seismic section in the north of Phu Khanh Basin from Vietnam shallow water to deeper offshore showing relatively steep slope.

D. W-E Seismic section in the north of Phu Khanh Basin

References:
Bojesen-Koefoed, J. A., Nielsen, L. H., Nytoft, H. P., Petersen, H. I., Dau, N. T.,  Hien, L. V.,  Duc, N. A., Quy, N., H., 2005, Geochemnical characteristics of oil seepages from Dam Thi Nai, Central Vietnam: Implications for hydrocarbon exploration in the offshore Phu Khanh Basin, Journal of Petroleum Geology, Vol 28 (1), January 2005, pp 3-18

A. Song Hong - Phu Khanh Seismic Section (source: AAPG)
Nortern margin of Phu Khanh Basin

B. Cuu Long - Phu Khanh Seismic Section (source: AAPG)

Southern margin of Phu Khanh Basin

C. W-E Seismic Section in the north of Phu Khanh Basin (Bojesen-Koefoed et al, 2005), showing potential kitchen area and its migration path.

D. W-E Seismic Section in the north of Phu Khanh Basin (Bojesen-Koefoed et al, 2005). Horst-grabben system develop below the Lower Miocene horizon. A major progradational feature developed in the upper Miocene.







Reference:
Bojesen-Koefoed, J.A., Nielsen, L.H., Nytoft, H.P., Petersen, H.I., Dau, N.T., Hien, L.V., Duc, N.A. & Quy, N.H., 2005: Geochemical characteristics of oil seepages from Dam Thi Nai, central Vietnam: implications for exploration in the offshore Phu Khanh Basin. Journal of Petroleum Geology 28, 3–18.

Gorontalo Basin

Location map of Tomini Bay
and Gorontalo Basin

Seismic section across Gorontalo Basin (Source: Fugro)

Gorontalo Basin is located under the Tomini Bay and is limited by the neck and the north and east arms of Sulawesi Island. The basin opens to the east towards the Molucca Sea. Maximum water depth in the basin goes deeper than 2000 m and sediment thickness is up to about 7 km. The basin still lacks of hydrocarbon exploration activities at the moment, therefore there is no accurate information about the ages of basin-fills.

Regional tectonic reconstruction of Hall (2002) shows that part of the proto-Gorontalo Basin was most likely located in a fore-arc setting since Middle Eocene to Early Miocene, with the arc being the north arm of Sulawesi.

Tectono-stratigraphic Evolution of Western Gorontalo Bay, Indonesia
Parinya Pholbud (PTTEP)
Abstract, MSc in Petroleum Geoscience, Royal Holloway, University of London, Department of Earth Sciences,

Fugro seismic survey in Gorontalo Basin

Gorontalo Bay exists as one of eastern Indonesia’s mystery basins in terms of its tectonic evolution and stratigraphy. Detailed interpretation of newly acquired regional 2D seismic data provides an understanding of the tectono-stratigraphic evolution of the western part of Gorontalo Bay.

The formation of western Gorontalo Bay and adjacent areas is related to thermal subsidence initiated during the Early Miocene, associated with plate tectonic collision in Sulawesi (—23 Ma). This event initiated the development of the fore-arc basin along a NE-SW trending zone of weakness in Oligocene and older basement rocks. The NE-SW trending basin was filled by thick deep marine sediments. Subsidence was interrupted by a later uplifting event along the southeastern margin.

Carbonates became dominant in this basin following the formation of a thick carbonate platform. The shallow marine carbonates were developed widely in the basin before rapid subsidence to the present-day deep water (2 km depth). This rapid subsidence is the result of the Celebes Sea subduction and trench rollback during the Pliocene (—5 Ma) to Recent.

Example of seismic data from the Gorontalo Basin
(source: Fugro / searcherseismic.com)

The results from this study imply that this basin potentially has a petroleum system for future hydrocarbon exploration according to the depositional environments. Hydrocarbon could be sourced from mature deep marine sediments in the basin centre. Mixed grain rocks, fractures and local unconformities within the sedimentary mega sequences potentially form economical stratigraphic plays. These should be the major targets for hydrocarbon exploration in this area.

Supervisor: Robert Ha1l, Marta Pérez-Gussinyé & Chris Elders
Data provided by: Searcher Seismic, Fugro Multi Client Services PTY Ltd & TGS-Nopec

South Java Basins

South Java Basins
The western Indonesian fore-arc basins extend more than 1800 km from northwest of Aceh to southwest Java. The width of the basins varies from less than 70 km south of the Sunda Strait to about 120 km in the west off northern Sumatra. The basins form a strongly subsiding belt between the elevated Sumatra Paleozoic–Mesozoic arc massif cropping out along Sumatra and Java, and the rising outer arc high.

(Contributor: Dieter Franke, BGR)



Seismic Sections:
Figure 1. Location map of line ABB-SO-137-31, south of Banten, West Java.












Figure 2. NW-SE oriented uninterpreted section of line ABB-SO-137-31. Data courtesy: BGR








Figure 3. Interpreted section of line ABB-SO-137-31. Data courtesy: BGR









Figure 4. Location of line ABB-SO-137-36













Figure 5. SW-NE orientation seismic line ABB-SO-137-36. Data courtesy: BGR







Figure 6. Interpreted seismic line ABB-SO-137-36. Data courtesy: BGR

Data Provider

The main data provider for this online atlas are:

The committee are thankful for their contributions

Sandakan Basin

Sandakan Basin is located in the northern part of Borneo Island. Similar to other circum-Borneo basins, the Sandakan Basin is dominated by shallow to deep marine clastics sequences.

Fig. 1. NW-SE Seismic Section of part of Sandakan Basin (Petronas, 2000).

Foreset features of Sehabat Formation, indicating sediment transport from NW to SE. Source: Petronas 2000 in Tate, 2001.

Fig. 2. Manalunan-1 geoseismic interpretation after Wong, 1993.

A scetch of a seismic section across Manalunan-1 well which penetrated the Sehabat formation (Modified after Wong, 1993)

Fig. 3. NW-SE orientation seismic section (Petronas 2000)

NW - SE orientation seismic section

shows Pad Basin which is bounded by 2 flower structure system (Source: Petronas 2000 in Tate, 2001)

Fig. 4. Seismic section and well distribution of Futalan et al. (2012) study.

Futalan et al.(2012) published 2 seismic lines in the Philippines territory of Sandakan Basin (Fig. 4).

Fig. 5. Seismic section of Futalan et al. (2012)

Fig. 6. Seismic section across Hippo-1 well (Futalan et al., 2012)

Seismic interpretation along a seismic section by Futalan et al., 2012.




A zoom in and detail seismic interpretation across Hippo-1 well is shown in Fig. 6.


References:
Futalan, K., Mitchell, A., Amos, K., & Backe, G., Seismic Facies Analysis and Structural Interpretation of the Sandakan Sub-basin, Sulu Sea, Philippines, Search and Discovery Article #30254 (2012) Posted October 29, 2012

Natuna Sea and Sarawak Basin

The Natuna Sea area is the southern extension of the South China Sea, mainly in the Indonesian territory. This area is divided by two parts by Natuna Arch, namely West Natuna Basin which extend to Malay Basin in West Malaysia and East Natuna Basin which extend of Sarawak Basin in East Malaysia

The West Natuna Basin was formed as an intra-continental rift basin within the Sunda Platform, the southern margin or Eurasian Plate. The basin has undergone Eocene-Oligocene extension, followed by Miocene to present day contraction and inversion.

In Late Cretaceous-Early Eocene reconstruction, East Natuna Basin was part of a large fore-arc basin extending from offshore Veitnam, across Natuna Sea to Sarawak. The SW-NE trending structures in East Natuna Basin are controlled by extensional faults and half grabens similar to the ones found in West Natuna Basin, but the rift magnitude is generally less than the ones in the West Natuna Basin.



West Natuna Seismic Sections
Seismic reflection section over the Anambas graben. Tectonic inversion over the graben occurred during the Miocene. Brown marker is the top Oligocene, Gabu formaion wheras the blue marker represents the Pliocene unconformtiy after inversion. The bright spots near basement may represent lacustrine source rocks with high TOC. Source: Fenstein, 2000.

Play concepts for West Natuna basin (Netherwood R., 2000, after Fainstein and Meyer, 1988)












East Natuna Seismic Sections




Seismic reflection section of East Natuna. No inversion occurs in this area. Blu marker represents top of carbona te reservoirs. Bursa is an oil field and Alpha-D is teh giant Natuna gas field (source: Fainstein, 2000).










Play concepts for East Natuna basin (source: Netherwood R., 2000, after Fainstein and Meyer, 1998)








ION Geophysics acquired deep seismic in Natuna area. The sections go as deep as 40 km. Below are a map and a sample section from their brochure  

 

References:
Netherwood R., 2000, The Petroleum Geology of Indonesia, in: Blunden, T. (ed.), Indonesia 2000, Reservoir Optimization Conference, Schlumberger

Makassar Strait Basins

Tectonic provinces in the Makassar Strait Region (Darman, 2014)

Makassar Strait is located between Borneo and Sulawesi Island. In general the region is separated into two parts by NW-SE Adang - Paternoster Lateral Fault. The northern part compose of Kutei Basin in the west, North Makassar Basin in the centre and two basins in the east called Lariang and Karama Basins. Palu-Koro Fault set the northern boundary of the northern part. Paternoster Platform and the South Makassar Basin is located in the southern part of this region.

Fig. 2. PGS-1 South-North Seismic section across across Makassar Strait (Source: PGS)

PGS has processed and published a NS seismic line which cross different tectonic unit in the Makassar Strait. PGS-1 line goes across Muara Sub-basin of Tarakan Basin in the north, Mangkalihat Platform, North Makassar Basin, South Makassar Basin, Paternoster Platform and Lombok Basin.

Fig. 3. Location map fo PGS-1 seismic line

1. Palu Koro Fault

Fig. 4. TGS seismic line which shows the Mangkalihat Platform 

and the Palu Koro Fault system (right; Baillie, 2005)

The NW-SE oriented Palu Koro Fault system developed in the north of Makassar Strait. This fault is still active and generated a number of significant earth quake in Sulawesi onshore. The seismic section offshore shows a rough seabottom. Figure 4 shows a seismic section across the Mangkalihat Platform on the left and rough sea-bottom topography on the right, which is caused by the Palu-Koro fault system. Figure 5 provide the zoom-in image of Figure 4 to show the detail of the Palu-Koro fault system.

Fig. 5. TGS Seismic line, showing the detail of the Palu Koro 

Fault in Fig. 4 (Baillie, 2005)

2. Offshore Kutei Basin

Fig. 6. TGS MDD99 Line 19, showing the eastern margin 

of offshore Kutei Basin. 

The majority of Kutei Basin covers the eastern part of Borneo onshore. The drainage basin supplied sediments to the paleo-Mahakam Delta which develop further as deepwater system in the Makassar Strait. TGS MDD99 Line 19 (Fig. 6) shows the margin between the offshore Kutei Basin and the Northern Makassar Strait. The seismic section shows minimum deformation in the Northern Makassar Strait (right of Fig. 6) and potential toe-thrust system developed in the outer margin of the offshore Kutei Basin (left of Fig. 6).

PGS 3D seismic reprocessing in the southern part of offshore Kutei Basin  (Fig. 7) provide some detail images of the deltaic - deepwater system.

Fig. 7. Location map of the 3D seismic reprocessed by PGS.

Fig. 8. Dip line of PGS 3D seismic

Fig. 9. Strike line of PGS 3D seismic

3. Lariang Basin

Fig. 10. Seismic expression of North Makassar Strait (left) and 

Majene thrust belt (right). After Baillie, 2005. 

Structural Styles of the West Sulawesi Deep-Water Fold and Thrust Belt, Makassar Straits, Indonesia

by Jose de Vera & Ken McClay Fault Dynamics Research Group, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, United Kingdom

Southeastern part of Makassar Basin, Deepwater fold

belts. Source: TGS

The offshore margin of West Sulawesi (eastern Makassar Straits) is characterized by an active, Late Miocene/Early Pliocene to present day, NE-SW-trending and NW-verging deepwater fold and thrust belt. The fold and thrust is approximately 250 km long and as much as 75 km wide and consists of an Oligocene to present day succession that was deposited on subsiding, thinned, rifted continental crust and is now deformed by SW-to NE-verging thrust fault-related folds deformed on multiple detachment layers. Based on the across strike variations in structural style and bathymetry changes, the West Sulawesi fold and thrust belt can be divided into five across-strike main structural domains. From northwest to southeast these are: the abyssal plain, the deformation front, the folded domain, the thrust domain and the inversion domain. The abyssal plain is solely deformed by Pliocene to Pleistocene, low-displacement, planar extensional faults, which are interpreted to be the result of flexural subsidence ahead of the advancing thrust front. The structural styles of the deformation front are strongly controlled by inversion of the Pliocene to Pleistocene extensional faults. Inversion of pre-existing faults controls fault localization and fold vergence, giving rise to complex wedge and triangle zone geometries.

Southeastern part of Makassar Basin, Deepwater fold

belts. Source: TGS

The structural styles of the folded and thrust domains are characterized by complex NW- to SE-trending detachment and fault-propagation folds, with multiple detachment levels developed in Oligocene and Miocene mudstones. The inversion domain is the innermost and oldest element of the thrust belt and consists of large anticlines that resulted from reactivation of Paleocene rift structures. The results presented in this work are based on the structural analysis of 3480 km of regional 2D seismic lines.
The structural patterns described here have implications for understanding fault-fold geometries and growth in other deepwater fold and thrust belts.

Reference:
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90090©2009 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Denver, Colorado, June 7-10, 2009



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