U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2012–3029

March 2012

World Petroleum Resources Project

Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of Papua 

New Guinea, Eastern Indonesia, and East Timor, 2011

Introduction

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assessed the potential for 

undiscovered conventional oil and gas fields within five geologic provinces of eastern Asia as part of the USGS World Petroleum Resources 

Assessment Project. This study follows the USGS assessment of 23 

provinces in Southeast Asia (Schenk and others, 2010). The five geologic provinces assessed in this study are the Banda Arc, Bintuni−Sulawati, Arafura Basin−Irian Jaya, New Guinea Foreland Basin-Fold Belt, 

and the Papuan Basin-Shelf Platform (fig. 1). Assessment units (AU) 

defined within these provinces are (1) Banda Arc Province—Timor 

Thrust Structures AU and Seram Thrust Structures AU; (2) Bintuni−

Sulawati Province—Sulawati Basin AU, Bintuni Basin AU, and Lengguru Fold Belt AU; (3) Arafura Basin−Irian Jaya Province—Arafura 

Platform AU and Irian Jaya Fold Belt AU; (4) New Guinea Foreland 

Basin-Fold Belt Province—Papua New Guinea Fold Belt AU; and (5) 

Papuan Basin-Shelf Platform Province—Papua Platform AU (table 1).

The methodology for the assessment included a complete 

geologic framework description for each AU based mainly on published literature. Exploration and discovery history was a critical part 

of the methodology used to estimate sizes and numbers of undiscovered accumulations. Where the discovery history of an AU was immature, geologic analogs were used in the assessment as a guide to sizes 

and numbers of undiscovered oil and gas accumulations. Each AU was 

assessed for undiscovered oil and nonassociated gas accumulations, 

and co-product ratios were used to calculate the volumes of associated 

gas (gas in oil fields) and volumes of natural gas liquids.

!

INDONESIA

EAST 

TIMOR

PAPUA 

NEW GUINEA

AUSTRALIA

122° 124° 126° 128° 130° 132° 134° 136° 138° 140° 142° 144° 146° 148° 150°

0 100 200 MILES

0 200 KILOMETERS 100

ARAFURA SEA

PACIFIC OCEAN

TIMOR SEA

BANDA SEA

MOLLUCA 

SEA

BISMARCK SEA

PAPUAN BASIN-SHELF PLATFORM

PROVINCE

ARAFURA BASIN-IRIAN JAYA

PROVINCE

BINTUNI-SULAWATI PROVINCE

BANDA ARC PROVINCE

NEW GUINEA 

FORELAND BASINFOLD BELT 

PROVINCE

EXPLANATION

Basin provinces

Timor Thrust Structures AU

Seram Thrust Structures AU

Irian Jaya Fold Belt AU

Arafura Platform AU

Papua Platform AU

Papua New Guinea Fold 

 Belt AU

Sulawati Basin AU

Bintuni Basin AU

Lengguru Fold Belt AU

Gas field

Oil field

 

AUSTRALIA

NEW ZEALAND

INDONESIA

CHINA

INDIA PACIFIC OCEAN

INDIAN OCEAN

Area of 

assessment

!

4°

2°

2°

4°

6°

8°

10°

12°

14°

0°

Figure 1. Locations of five geologic provinces within the Papua New Guinea, eastern Indonesia, and East Timor areas of 

eastern Asia assessed in this study (AU, assessment unit). 

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated means of 5.8 billion barrels 

of oil and 115 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered natural gas in five geologic provinces in the areas of Papua New Guinea, 

eastern Indonesia, and East Timor.
Resource Summary

The USGS assessed undiscovered conventional oil and gas 

resources in the nine assessment units that are defined within the five 

geologic provinces of the Papua New Guinea, eastern Indonesia, and 

East Timor areas, with the following results: (1) for conventional oil 

resources, the mean total for all AUs is 5,781 million barrels of oil 

(MMBO), with a range from 2,244 to 11,218 MMBO; (2) for undiscovered conventional gas, the mean total is 115,158 billion cubic feet 

of gas (BCFG), with a range from 45,386 to 221,445 BCFG; and (3) 

for natural gas liquids (NGL), the mean total is 2,464 MMBNGL, with 

a range from 953 to 4,811 MMBNGL (table 1).

Of the mean undiscovered oil total of 5,781 MMBO, about 36 

percent (2,106 MMBO) is estimated to be in two AUs within the Banda 

Arc Province: Timor Thrust Structures AU (mean of 1,275 MMBO) 

and Seram Thrust Structures AU (mean of 831 MMBO). Another 37 

percent of undiscovered oil is estimated to be in the fold and thrust 

belts of Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya (Papua New Guinea Fold 

Belt AU, 1,215 MMBO, and the Irian Jaya Fold Belt AU, 932 MMBO).

For the mean undiscovered gas total of 115,158 BCFG, there is 

significant potential for undiscovered nonassociated gas resources (gas 

in gas fields) in all AUs (table 1). Of note are the mean estimates for 

undiscovered gas resources for the Papua New Guinea Fold Belt AU 

(18,138 BCFG), the Arafura Platform AU (15,910 BCFG), and the 

Bintuni Basin AU (20,787 BCFG).

For Further Information

Supporting studies of the geologic models and the methodology 

used in the assessment of these five provinces in eastern Asia are in 

progress. Assessment results are available at the USGS Energy Program 

website, http://energy.cr.usgs.gov/oilgas/.

Reference Cited

Schenk, C.J., Brownfield, M.E., Charpentier, R.R., Cook, T.A., Klett, 

T.R., Kirschbaum, M.A., Pitman, J.K., and Pollastro, R.M., 2010, 

Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of Southeast Asia; 

2010: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2010-3015, 2 p.

Eastern Asia Assessment Team: 

Christopher J. Schenk, Michael E. Brownfield, Ronald R. 

Charpentier, Troy A. Cook, Timothy R. Klett, Janet K. Pitman, and 

Richard M. Pollastro.

 Total petroleum systems 

 (TPS) 

and assessment units (AU)

Field 

type

Largest 

expected 

mean

field size

Total undiscovered resources

Oil (MMBO) Gas (BCFG) NGL (MMBNGL)

F95 F50 F5 Mean F95 F50 F5 Mean F95 F50 F5 Mean

Mesozoic-Cenozoic Composite TPS

Papua New Guinea Fold Belt 

AU

Oil 266 486 1,111 2,297 1,215 3,411 7,850 16,592 8,637 53 123 265 136

Gas 3,304 7,489 16,796 33,515 18,138 123 277 561 301

Papua Platform AU

Oil 78 118 291 647 325 724 1,818 4,108 2,040 11 29 66 32

Gas 805 4,068 8,194 15,788 8,835 71 145 279 156

Irian Jaya Fold Belt AU

Oil 235 330 836 1,863 932 2,305 5,916 13,400 6,629 35 93 214 104

Gas 1,411 1,955 4,995 11,288 5,601 32 83 190 93

Arafura Platform AU

Oil 95 241 496 957 534 1,478 3,103 6,054 3,352 23 49 97 53

Gas 1,545 7,671 14,928 27,524 15,910 135 263 489 281

Lengguru Fold Belt AU

Oil 81 29 95 385 136 196 664 2,753 963 3 10 44 15

Gas 1,750 1,532 4,307 11,131 5,037 25 71 186 84

Bintuni Basin AU

Oil 49 78 168 343 184 86 243 634 287 2 6 18 8

Gas 5,328 7,320 18,672 41,602 20,787 191 492 1,135 554

Sulawati Basin AU

Oil 25 197 335 551 349 523 917 1,540 959 17 30 50 31

Gas 116 485 859 1,449 898 41 75 131 79

Mesozoic Composite TPS

Seram Thrust Structures AU

Oil 223 293 742 1,689 831 605 1,563 3,675 1,769 19 49 118 56

Gas 1,334 1,737 4,440 10,135 4,982 54 138 322 156

Timor Thrust Structures AU

Oil 273 472 1,153 2,486 1,275 984 2,438 5,396 2,713 31 77 174 86

Gas 1,624 2,817 6,909 14,861 7,621 87 216 472 239

Total conventional

 resources 2,244 5,227 11,218 5,781 45,386 104,612 221,445 115,158 953 2,226 4,811 2,464

[MMBO, million barrels of oil; BCFG, billion cubic feet of gas; MMBNGL, million barrels of natural gas liquids. Results shown are fully risked estimates. For gas accumulations, all liquids are included as NGL (natural gas liquids). Undiscovered gas resources are the sum of nonassociated and associated gas. F95 represents a 95-percent 

chance of at least the amount tabulated; other fractiles are defined similarly. Largest expected oil field in MMBO; largest expected gas field in BCFG. TPS, total petroleum 

system; AU, assessment unit. Gray shading indicates not applicable]

Table 1. Papua New Guinea, eastern Indonesia, and East Timor assessment results.