Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Abstract
Malay Basin, an intracratonic basin, is a northwest trending elongate basin located in the north-eastern
part of peninsular Malaysia. It is composed of complex half grabens structure that filled with sediments that
are Tertiary to recent in age. The stratigraphy of Malay Basin is divided accordingly based on seismic
markers and well log readings that are confined by unconformities and sequence boundary. It was labeled
from Group A to Group M from younger to older strata. These sediments are mostly lacustrine shales, coal
and continental siliciclastics. The basin has undergone three major tectonic events that give rise to the
current structure in the basin; 1) Extension during Late Cretaceous to Early Miocene, 2) Thermal
subsidence during Early Miocene to Middle Miocene, and 3) Compression during Late Miocene to
Pliocene. Half grabens structure across the basin area was formed by the extension during Late Cretaceous
to Early Miocene. Fluvio-deltaic and lacustrine sediment from Group M, L and K that are Oligocene to
Miocene in age are recognized as the source rock for the petroleum system in this basin. The main reservoir
zone is in the Group K to Group D sediments that are mostly from fluvial origin was deposited during the
thermal subsidence event that occurs during Lower Miocene to Middle Miocene. The compression that
occur during middle Miocene to Pliocene reactivated the normal fault along the half grabens structure and
gave rise to domal anticlinal features, which is the main type of hydrocarbon trap in Malay Basin. The
widespread regional shale that occurs in Malay Basin reacts as the seal rock. All these petroleum system
elements are well-preserved and are correctly placed in time and space in the Malay Basin and provide a
suitable condition for hydrocarbon accumulation and production.
Keywords: Malay Basin; Miocene-Pliocene; Petroleum System; Source Rock, Reservoir Rock; Structural
Traps, Stratigraphy
1. Introduction
Malay Basin is a northwest trending elongate
basin located in the north-eastern part of peninsular
Malaysia (Figure 1). It is entirely offshore and
located in the South China Sea. Water depth at this
area is relatively shallow and averagely less than
200m. The basin is categorized as intracratonic
basin or interior extensional because it is located
within continental interior in stable cratonic areas
of Sunda shelf. The basin is filled with more than
14 km of Oligocene to recent sediment and covers
an area of up to 85,000 km2 with about 500 km2
long and 200km2 wide (Petronas, 1999). The
Oligocene sediments at this area have been
classified to have terrestrial origins with minor
marine influence, while the Miocene-recent
sediments are generally deposited in coastal plain
to shallow marine environment.
According to Bishop (2002) in the USGS
Figure 2: Seismic cross-sections A-A and B-B, showing fault block and half grabens structure
(Kong, 1994)
Figure 4: Fault structures in the northwestern part of the Malay Basin (Tjia, 1994)
Figure 6: Paleogeographic reconstruction of depositional environment for the Malay Basin Based
on EPIC (l994)
Figure 7: Sedimentary logs from J Group at Malong Field. Left figure shows parasequence
representing offshore sandbars and right figure shows a shoreface parasequence (Ibrahim &
Madon, 1990)
Figure 8: Group I cross section and core sequence from unpublished report by Campion (1997)
Figure 12: Hydrocarbon distribution map and its structural traps in Malay Basin (Petrona
Figure 13: Some examples of trap styles in Malay Basin based on actual hydrocarbon field
Hydrocarbon traps that are associated with
normal faults accounts for 29% of the discoverable
reserves in Malay Basin (Bishop, 2002). This type
of traps are usually are common in the
southwestern area of the basin. The collision
between India and Asia has resulted to the
activation of the fault in Malay Basin and has
6. Reservoir Rocks
Group D down to K sandstones are identified
as the major hydrocarbon reservoir in this
province. The depositional environments for each
sandstone reservoir differ with the stratigraphy as
described before. The primary depositional
environment, burial diagenesis and mineralogical
contents of the reservoir sandstone play an
important role in the quality of the reservoir in
Malay Basin. Petrographic and diagenetic study
that was done by Shing (1992) indicates that Group
K, J, I and E show significant differences in their
sedimentary
texture
and
mineralogical
composition. Figure 14 shows the QFR diagram
plot for framework composition of Group D, E, H,
Figure 14: (a) Framework component for group E, I, J and K sandstone (b) group D (Shing 1992; Madon
I, J and K.
Group K was deposited in a coastal plain
environment and its sandstones are mainly medium
grained sand that is quartz cemented (Armitage &
Viotti, 1977). This group account for almost 15%
of the hydrocarbon reserves in Malay Basin
(Creaney, Hanif, Curry, Bohacs, & Redzuan,
1994). Group K sandstones have range of porosity
from 10 to 30% and permeability up to 1000mD
(Bishop, 2002).
Group K sandstones have
intergranular volume of 38% which is the smallest
value compare to other group reservoir due to
increasing depth burial compaction that increase
the grain packing matrix (Shing, 1992) .
Group J sandstone reservoir consists of shore
face sediment that is medium-grained in size and
moderately well sorted (Shing, 1992). It is
estimated that more than 20% of recoverable
hydrocarbon reserves are in this reservoir. The
porosity value for this sandstone reservoir ranges
from 11 to 30% and permeability of more than
7. Seal Rocks
9. Conclusion
283.
Tjia, H. (1994). Inversion tectonics in the Malay
Basin: evidence and timing of events. Geological
Society of Malaysia, 36, 119-126.