Characteristics of non-marine "Dual Petroleum Systems" in Southeast Asia

Abstract

It was formerly thought that Miocene coal is the main source rock in the basins in and around Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. However, detailed investigation by the state-of-art geochemical analytical technique such as GC-MS-MS and diamondoids on crude oils and condensates revealed that Oligocene lacustrine source rock exists and the petroleum system originated from this source rock plays an important role in these basins. The analytical results indicated that different types of fluids (oil, condensate and gas) generated from 2 source rocks mixed during their migration and trapping. Two-dimensional basin modeling on the Malay basin confirmed the mixing of different types of fluids during their migration and trapping. The understanding of this kind of complex dual petroleum systems will give new insights on petroleum potential of the basins in Southeast Asia