Paleogeography during the Middle Jurassic - Source: Scotese (1988).
Geology
Asia

Middle East as an analogue

How the paleogeographical setting of one area helps de-risk another - an example from the Middle East and Indonesia.

The Seram fold and thrust belt in Eastern Indonesia is an underexplored area. Yet, it shares many characteristics with fold and thrust belts with proven hydrocarbon potential in the Middle East, such as the Zagros Mountains. Kim Morrison from Lion Energy, the company that holds significant acreage in Seram, drew the parallel during a Seapex Conference presentation in Singapore in 2019.

The main carbonate reservoirs share similar depositional environments, as the paleogeographic map shown here further supports, and source rocks from laterally equivalent anoxic marine carbonates are also considered to be similar between the two areas.

For that reason, Lion Energy regards the Seram fold and thrust belt as a highly prospective area and has acquired an extensive offshore 2D survey in 2020 (664 km) and onshore in 2022 (200 km) and now have some exceptional fold-belt prospects with areal closures up to 100 km2. Thanks in part to the information drawn form paleogeographic analogues.

This article is the fourth in a series of five dedicated to the Power of Paleogeography. It forms part of the cover story that was published in Issue 5 of the GEO ExPro magazine. A copy of the magazine can be downloaded here.

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