Using a geology-based method, the U.S. Geological Survey estimates that 33 geologic provinces of Southeast Asia hold a mean of 10.5 billion barrels of oil and 271.5 trillion cubic feet of gas that are undiscovered and technically recoverable, in conventional accumulations.
The assessment
The assessment covers 48 assessment units (AUs) in 34 total petroleum systems, each assessed for undiscovered conventional oil, gas and natural gas liquids.
Most of these provinces have a long history of exploration, discovery and production. In the ten years since the previous USGS assessment (2010), exploration successes and failures and a fresh look at the geology lowered the overall estimate — as expected, given how thoroughly many of the provinces have been explored. Still, high potential remains, especially for conventional gas.
Continuous (unconventional) resources — shale oil, shale gas, tight gas and coalbed gas — have been assessed separately in several provinces, and are substantially smaller than the conventional resources.
Seven province groups
The region's basins have complex tectonic histories and petroleum systems. For reporting, the 33 provinces were put into seven groups by broad landform character rather than strict geology:
Figure 1. The 33 geologic provinces and 7 province groups assessed. Base map from the National Park Service.
| Province group | Provinces |
|---|---|
| Sunda-Java-Burma Arc-Related | Irrawaddy, Indo-Burman, North Sumatra Basin, Central Sumatra Basin, South Sumatra Basin, Northwest Java Basin, East Java Basin, South Makassar Basin, Sumatra-Java Forearc Basins |
| Sundaland | Thai Cenozoic Basins, Thai Basin, Malay Basin, Cuu Long Basin, Nam Con Son Basin, Greater Sarawak Basin, East Natuna Basin, Penyu/West Natuna Basin |
| Red River Fault Zone | Song Hong Basin, Phu Khanh Basin |
| Southeast China | Pearl River Mouth Basin, Qiongdongnan Basin, Taixinan Basin, Beibuwan Basin |
| Borneo-Kalimantan | South China Sea Platform, Baram Delta/Brunei-Sabah Basin, Tarakan Basin, Kutei Basin, Barito Basin |
| Philippine | Palawan Shelf, Sulu Sea Basin, Cagayan Basin, Visayan Basin |
| Triassic TPS | Khorat Plateau, Tonle Sap-Phnom Penh Basin |
Results
Fully risked mean estimates by province group:
| Province group | Oil (million barrels) | Gas (billion cubic feet) | NGL (million barrels) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunda-Java-Burma Arc-Related | 3,601 | 71,471 | 1,045 |
| Sundaland | 1,866 | 57,961 | 884 |
| Red River Fault Zone | 231 | 26,085 | 339 |
| Southeast China | 1,765 | 18,999 | 316 |
| Borneo-Kalimantan | 2,906 | 75,259 | 1,285 |
| Philippine | 127 | 19,207 | 408 |
| Triassic TPS | 35 | 2,479 | 9 |
| Total | 10,531 | 271,461 | 4,286 |
| Totals | Mean | Range (F95–F5) |
|---|---|---|
| Oil | 10,531 million barrels (10.5 billion) | 4,998–17,802 million |
| Gas | 271,461 billion cubic feet (271.5 trillion) | 129,043–465,177 billion |
| Natural gas liquids | 4,286 million barrels (4.3 billion) | 1,970–7,337 million |
F95 is the amount with a 95-percent chance of being there; F5, a 5-percent chance. The width of the range reflects geologic uncertainty.
Sources
- Schenk, C.J., Mercier, T.J., Woodall, C.A., Leathers-Miller, H.M., Finn, T.M., Le, P.A., Brownfield, M.E., Marra, K.R., and Ellis, G.S., 2020 (version 1.1, November 2020), Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources of Southeast Asia, 2020: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2020–3046. https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/fs20203046
- The map and the results by province group come from the fact sheet's PDF, which the web version garbles.
- Rewritten in hubnx's own words.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from pubs.usgs.gov
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