Bulletin of the Geological Society of Malaysia, Volume 70, November 2020, pp. 103 – 118
Achmad Fahruddin, Rakhmat Fakhruddin*, Muhammad Firdaus, Hanif Mersil Saleh
Centre for Geological Survey, Geological Agency, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Jl. Diponegoro No.57 40122 Bandung, Jawa Barat, Indonesia
*Corresponding author email address: rakhmat.fakhruddin@esdm.go.id
Abstract: The offshore area in the northeast of Kendari city, the southeast arm of Sulawesi, is an area with favourable hydrocarbon prospectivity shown by numerous oil and gas seeps in the surrounding coastal area. It is a frontier basin in eastern Indonesia, known as the Manui Basin. An exploration well named Abuki-1 was drilled in 1990 suggested a Miocene transgressive sequence as a potential reservoir and source rock at this basin. However, this unit has no analogous exposure in the onshore area resulting in the lack of study and knowledge of this potential Miocene unit. Therefore, we revisit the sedimentary rocks exposure nearby Abuki-1 well in the Toronipa peninsula to study about its sedimentary facies and palynological contents. These outcrops by previous researchers were included in Toronipa Member of Meluhu Formation, and a Triassic age was suggested for this unit. By contrast, our result shows that these exposures are Middle to Late Miocene in age as indicated by the occurrence of the Florschuetzia group pollens (Florschuetzia trilobata, F. levipoli, and F. meridionalis). The absence of Plio-Pleistocene pollen and spores index fossils (Stenochlaena milnei group, Dacrycarpus imbricatus, and Phyllocladus) supports the Middle to Late Miocene age interpretation. A wave-dominated estuary depositional model is proposed based on the presence of river-dominated, mixed-energy, and wave-dominated facies associations. We suggest that the studied sediments are the outcrop analogues for the Middle to Late Miocene transgressive sequence found in Abuki-1 well. Furthermore, we recommend that these Miocene estuary-fill complexes should have excellent hydrocarbon potential. The reservoir potential is the sand deposits of the fluvial, tidal, washover, and shoreface facies with moderately to well-sorted characteristics. The source rocks candidate is the mud of lagoon, tidal flat, floodplain, and marine offshore facies. Moreover, the Manui Basin, with its Miocene estuarine deposits, requires further study to reveal its hydrocarbon accumulation potential.
Keywords: Manui Basin, wave-dominated estuary, Toronipa, southeast Sulawesi
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7186/bgsm70202008
