THE PETROLEUM POTENTIAL OF EAST TIMOR

Abstract

The hydrocarbon prospectivity of East Timor is widely considered to be only moderate due to Timor island’s well-known tectonic complexity, but in the present study a much higher potential is interpreted, with structures capable of hosting giant hydrocarbon accumulations. High quality source rocks are found in restricted marine sequences of Upper Triassic-Jurassic age. The most likely reservoir target is shallow marine siliciclastics of Upper Triassic-Middle Jurassic age encountered in the Banli–1 well in West Timor, comparable to the Malita and Plover Formations of the northern Bonaparte Basin, and sealed by Middle Jurassic shales of the Wai Luli Formation. The Wai Luli Formation also forms a major structural décollement level which detaches shallow level structural complexity from a simpler structural régime beneath.

The principal exploration targets are large, structurally simple inversion anticlines developed beneath the complex shallow-level fold and thrust/mélange terrain. Eroded-out examples of inversion anticlines, such as the Cribas, Aitutu and Bazol anticlines, are typically several tens of kilometres long and up to 10 km broad. Comparable structures in the subsurface of southern East Timor are interpreted north of Betano, and probably also near Suai, Beaco, Aliambata and Iliomar. Other potential targets include a possible non-inverted rollover anticline at Pualaca, stratigraphic and structural traps in the south coast syn/postorogenic basins, and possibly large structural domes beneath extensive Quaternary reef plateaux in the extreme east of the island.