Publication Name: Eastern Australian Basins Symposium V (EABS 2015)
Authors: B. Bailey, G. Salem, P. Haltmeier
Date Published: September 2015
Number of Pages: 12
Abstract:
The Gulf of Papua (GoP) is situated offshore the southern coast of Papua New Guinea. Present-day morphology of the continental shelf consists of a broad platform that extends 180 km outboard of the coast in shallow water of approximately 100m. The dominant lithostratigraphy is the prograding PlioPleistocene delta-front deposits accommodated in the actively growing Moresby Trough foreland basin and earlier Tertiary rift basins. Over the past four decades oil and gas exploration has focused on Mesozoic clastic and Miocene carbonate targets in the GoP. The extensions of the prolific, Mesozoic reservoirs of the Toro and Digimu Formations are limited as they progressively sub-crop the major, base-Tertiary unconformity, caused by the uplift and rifting at the northern end of the Coral Sea. The Miocene carbonate play has previously been successfully tested by a number of small gas and gas/condensate discoveries made in isolated reefal build-ups, initially identified on 2D seismic data.