Geology of oil and gas accumulations in the Papuan fold and thrust belt

The high level of exploration interest in Papua New Guinea has developed in large part because of recent discoveries in the western Papuan fold and thrust belt and shows in the adjacent foreland region. Results from recent drilling in the Iagifu/Hedinia area by a Chevron-led joint venture have outlined several pools in culminations along a 50 km long structural axis. Oil and gas are sourced from a thick succession of Jurassic marine shales that were deposited along the rifted northern margin of the Australian plate. Generation and migration is interpreted to have peaked coincident with development of the fold and thrust belt during the Neogene. Trapping occurred as anticlines and thrust sheets developed sequentially from northeast to southwest. Several trends remain untested on lands held by various groups, primarily in the area west of the Juha gas condensate pool.