Petroleum prospects for offshore sedimentary basins in the eastern Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands regions

Conference · Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990 · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA)

OSTI ID:6131326

Bruns, T R; Vedder, J G ^[1]

---

1. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA (USA)

Intra-arc basins in the Buka-Bougainville region of Papua New Guinea and in the Solomon Islands contain thick sedimentary sequences that may be prospective for petroleum. The Queen Emma basin, between Bougainville and New Ireland, contains as much as 8 km of deformed Oligocene and younger strata. The Central Solomons Trough, which underlies New Georgia Sound, is a composite intra-arc basin that contains late Oligocene and younger strata as much as 7 km thick. Farther east, beneath Indispensable Strait, the down-faulted Indispensable basin locally contains as much as 5.4 km of Miocene( ) and younger strata, and the offshore part of Mbokokimbo basin off eastern Guadalcanal includes 6 km or more of late Miocene and younger strata. All of these basins have some of the attributes necessary to generate and trap petroleum. Structural and stratigraphic traps are common, including faulted anticlines, sedimentary wedges, and carbonate reefs and reef-derived deposits on submarine ridges and along the basin margins. The thickness of the basin deposits ensures that some strata are buried deeply enough to be within the thermal regime required for hydrocarbon generation. However, little source or reservoir rock information is available because of the lack of detailed surface and subsurface stratigraphy. Moreover, much of the basin sediment is likely to consist of volcaniclastic material, derived from uplifted volcanogenic rocks surrounding the basins, and may be poor in source and reservoir rocks. Until additional stratigraphic information is available, analysis of the petroleum potential of these basins is a matter of conjecture.

• OSTI ID: 6131326
• Report Number(s): CONF-900702-; CODEN: AABUD
• Journal Information: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA), Vol. 74:6; Conference: 5. Circum-Pacific energy and mineral resources conference, Honolulu, HI (USA), 29 Jul - 3 Aug 1990; ISSN 0149-1423
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
EXPLORATION
GEOLOGIC TRAPS
MATURATION
OFFSHORE SITES
ORIGIN
REEFS
RESERVOIR ROCK
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
SOURCE ROCKS
TERTIARY PERIOD
ASIA
AUSTRALASIA
CENOZOIC ERA
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
ISLANDS
MINERAL RESOURCES
NEW GUINEA
RESOURCES
020200* - Petroleum- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration