04-19-2013, 10:19 AM
Antelope and Triceratops invalidates old palaeogeographic models
The discovery of the Antelope shallow marine carbonate platform and reef complex onshore in the Eastern Papuan Basin does not fit existing basin models that were developed based on the historical work from the 1950’s to the 1990’s.
The fundamental question as to the prospectivity of the Eastern Papuan Basin: are these singularities, or do they signify more significant shallow marine carbonate development in this region.
The Triceratops and Antelope areas were believed to lie in basinal deeper water setting on the margins of a major facies transition from carbonate to siliciclastic.
Based on this palaeogeography the shallow marine carbonate depositional systems identified at Antelope and Triceratops should not be present.
InterOil Exploration History
2012 marks 13 years of InterOil’s exploration in Papua New Guinea.
InterOil began exploration in Papua New Guinea with an initial license award in April of 1999.
InterOil took a somewhat contrarian view and saw evidence with previous oil and gas discoveries and abundant gas and oil seeps indicating an active Petroleum System of an under explored Greenfields province.
In the late 1990’s most of the Eastern Papuan Basin lay fallow and unlicensed.
Despite early success in carbonates in the late 1950’s and 1960’s exploration in the eastern basin had
stagnated.
Best shown with only 2 non-InterOil onshore wells drilled in the area since 1970 (Puri South 1, 1988 and Ipigo 1, 1970).
By comparison in that 40 year period nearly 160 wells were drilled elsewhere in the Papuan Basin. InterOil was awarded a large exploration area of nearly 8 million acres of frontier basin – with such a large frontier
license a systematic approach was required to focus our efforts.
In 2009 InterOil extended its licenses and relinquished 50% reducing the total area to a little approximately 16,000 km2 (~3.9 million acres).