Petroleum systems of the Malay Basin Province, Malaysia

Application of integrated vitrinite reflectance and FAMM analyses for thermal maturity assessment of the northeastern Malay Basin, offshore Vietnam: Implications for petroleum prospectivity evaluation

“…The source rocks in the Malay Basin are overmature in the centre due to deep burial and high geothermal gradients generally ranging from $45 to 60 1C/km (Madon, 2007). In the southern part of the basin, gradients as low as 36 1C/km have been reported by Bishop (2002). Most gas fields are related to overmature coaly source rocks in the depocentre, whereas oilfields towards the margin of the southeastern Malaysian part of the basin are related to lacustrine source rocks within the oil generation window .…”

“…), and the basin consists of a complex of grabens and half-grabens mainly filled with Paleogene-Neogene lacustrine mudstones, continental siliciclastic rocks, and coaly strata. In the deepest central part, the sediment fill is more than 14 km thick (Bishop, 2002;Madon, 2007). High burial and sedimentation rates in the early syn-rift phase caused overpressure in the basin, which is presently characterised by a domal overpressure distribution with the top of overpressure occurring at $2 km depth in the basin centre and deeper at the basin margins (Madon, 2007).…”

“…Most gas fields are related to overmature coaly source rocks in the depocentre, whereas oilfields towards the margin of the southeastern Malaysian part of the basin are related to lacustrine source rocks within the oil generation window . Upper Oligocene to Upper Miocene fluvial sandstones and shallow marine sandstones constitute reservoirs in the dominantly anticlinal traps formed in the Middle-Late Miocene (Bishop, 2002). Mixing of petroleum from the two petroleum systems is likely in some areas.…”

“…Two principal petroleum systems have been recognised: an Oligocene-Miocene system relying on lacustrine mudstone source rocks and a Miocene system relying on coal and coaly mudstone source rocks (Bishop, 2002). The syn-rift lacustrine petroleum system is strongly oil-prone and is common in basins in Southeast (SE) Asia, including Vietnam (Doust and Sumner, 2007).…”

Integrated Approach to Delineate Meandering Channel Sands as Potential Stratigraphic Traps

“…It is an elongated NW-SE intracontinental extensional basin (500 x 250km) and covers a total area of ca. 80,000km 2 [1,2]. Since 1970's, exploration efforts in the Malay Basin were directed towards the more obvious structural traps such as compressional anticlines and fault-dip closures.…”