Prospect evaluation in some of the less explored basins, such as offshore China and several southeast Asian and south Asian basins, is hampered by lack of data. Exploration ventures in such areas are generally labeled high risk, resulting in short-term, usually abortive, investment. Examples from Pakistan and China are presented, showing that condemnation of large areas on the basis of analogies with highly explored basins is generally due to limited availability of data and not due to lack of petroleum potential. In less explored basin areas, a more imaginative and conceptual approach is required to assimilate and synthesize limited exploration data.

Generalization with respect to gravity distribution of crudes in the Potwar basin, northern Pakistan, is also misleading. Detailed investigations indicate that gravity differentiation is a result of biodegradation, or is related to the type of source material and time and depth of burial. Nonmarine sediments in Pakistan have not been fully evaluated for their petroleum potential, however, the fact that almost all the interior basins in China produce oil from nonmarine reservoirs derived from nonmarine sources indicates that nonmarine sediments in Pakistan deserve greater attention.

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