Undiscovered petroleum resources of south Asia

Conference · Thu May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1986 · Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5166913

Kingston, J

Sedimentary basins of south Asia (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Burma) evolved from two tectonic events: (1) separation of India from Gondwana, and (2) northward movement of the India block, shouldering past and obliquely subducting under margins of previously arrived blocks (Afghan on the west and Sunda - Burma - on the east) before colliding with the Asian continental mass. The first event resulted in a rifted continental-margin basinal trend along the west coast of India and a similar trend along the east coast. The second event caused three trenches, Indus basin on the west, Bengal-Assam basins on the east, and sub-Himalayan basins to the north. Burma is the fore-arc basins of the eastern oblique subduction. Taking into account various geologic factors (reservoirs, traps, source, seal, and migration-timing), the authors estimated six most likely occurrences of undiscovered recoverable petroleum resources. (1) The western rifted margin, the richest trend probably because of its relatively high geothermal gradient, is assessed at 1.3 billion bbl of oil and 13.2 tcf of gas; (2) the eastern rifted margin at 0.82 billion bbl of oil and 10.2 tcf of gas; (3) the western trench (gas-prone) at 0.11 billion bbl of oil and 8.1 tcf of gas; (4) the eastern trench (gas-prone), assessed higher than the western trench because of more favorable reservoir properties, at 0.10 billion bbl of oil and 17.5 tcf of gas; (5) the northern trench, the poorest trend mostly because of the absence of properly matured source rocks, at 0.10 billion bbl of oil and 0.91 tcf of gas; and (6) the Burma basin, which received a relatively high assessment for a fore-arc basin because of the very thick stratigraphic section, at 0.56 billion bbl of oil and 1.78 tcf of gas.

• Research Organization: Geological Survey, Reston, VA
• OSTI ID: 5166913
• Report Number(s): CONF-860624-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States) Journal Volume: 70:5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020200* -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
03 NATURAL GAS
030200 -- Natural Gas-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
ASIA
BANGLADESH
BURMA
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
EXPLORATION
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGIC TRAPS
GEOLOGY
INDIA
MATURATION
MINERAL RESOURCES
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
PAKISTAN
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
RESERVOIR ROCK
RESOURCE POTENTIAL
RESOURCES
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
SOURCE ROCKS