Abstract

The Abadi field is Indonesia's first discovery in the Middle Jurassic Plover Formation. This potentially giant gas discovery is located some 350 km east of Timor Island and 350 km north of Darwin, Australia. It lies just north of the international boundary with Australia, in 400–800 m water depth. The Masela Production Sharing Contract (PSC) was awarded to Inpex as Operator with 100% interest in November 1998. The discovery well Abadi-1 was drilled and completed in late 2000. Following discovery, a 2,060 km² 3D seismic survey was acquired in 2001 and two successful appraisal wells were drilled in 2002.

Geologically, the field comprises relatively undeformed Australian continental margin that extends into Indonesian waters. It lies on the eastern extremity of the Sahul Platform and occupies a large tilted fault block bounded to the east and south by the Calder-Malita Grabens. The accumulation contains a significant gas column, reservoired within shallow-marine, highly mature, quartzose sandstone of the Middle Jurassic Plover Formation. Close analogues are to be found in the giant Greater Sunrise and Bayu-Undan fields. Reservoir quality, at a depth of ~3,900 m, varies from surprisingly good to poor, reflecting a complex interaction of primary depositional controls and later diagenetic influences. A preliminary estimate of reserves size is about 5 TCF.

Inpex has undertaken a variety of exploration projects and studies, including high-resolution sequence stratigraphy and seismic-driven paleofacies reconstructions to model the reservoir architecture.

Utilizing this framework, a full-field 3D model is currently being developed to better characterize the likely range of reserves and to provide the basis for a more accurate understanding of the economic value of Abadi.