This book is dedicated to our colleague, good

friend, as well as "Guru" the late Dr. George P.

Allen (1942-1998) who suddenly passed away
while doing his field seminar in the Spanish
Pyrenees.
Stefano Mora, Marco Gardini, Yohan Kusumanegara and Agung Wiweko

MODERN, ANCIENT DELTAIC DEPOSITS

AND
PETROLEUM SYSTEM OF MAHAKAM AREA

With collaboration of :
Irfan Cibaj, Frederic Duval, Peter Homewood, Michel Moge, Dominique Roy, Lo Ten Haven
Acknowledgements

This guidebook was written by several contributors (from TOTAL Indonesie) based on the
ideas and concepts of many workers who have studied the sedimentology and reservoir
geology of deltaic environment especially the modern and ancient Mahakam Delta.

In particular, we would like to thank previous workers who have contributed to study the
modern and ancient Mahakam Delta. We also thank the previous Mahakam field trip
organisers in which we learnt how to organise this field trip. Special thanks to Peter
Homewood, Simon Haddad and Jean-Marc Feroul who read the document and suggesting
many useful things and Silvia Gardini who review the manuscript.

We also would like to thank PERTAMINA, the Management of TOTAL Indonesie, and our
partner INPEX for their support and for the permission to publish this guidebook.

We especially grateful to all the personnel of TOTAL Indonesie without whom this Field trip
could not have been carried out:
Sartono, Sukatiman, Sukardi, Lotong and Toto for their tireless help on the delta., KL and KJ
team for their contribution on the logistic of this trip, Haris, Astar, Syamsudin for their help
in preparing the figures and posters. Aspani for escorting the “lunch boat” in the delta.

The authors
 Contents

1. A historical perspective on the exploration of the Mahakam.

1.1 Prelude. pag. 1
1.2 1888-1936 - Early Exploration and production. pag. 1
1.3 1937-1967 – Interlude pag. 1
1.3 1967-1969 - Back to action pag. 2
1.4 1970-1975 - The major oil and gas discoveries pag. 2
1.6 1976-1989 - Heavy development investment, with some exploration pag. 3
1.7 1990’s - The recent pag. 3

2. General setting pag. 4

2.2 The Kutai Basin pag. 4
2.3 Geodynamic setting pag. 4
2.4 Stratigraphic setting pag. 5

3. Petroleum system of lower Kutai basin pag. 9

3.1 Source Rocks pag. 9
3.2 Kitchen pag. 11
3.3 Kitchen distribution pag. 11
3.4 Hydrocarbon migration pag. 12
3.5 Hydrocarbon type pag. 13
3.6 Reservoirs pag. 13
3.7 Traps and seals pag. 14
3.8 Petroleum system development pag. 15

4. Oil/Gas Field examples pag. 18

4.1. Tambora Field pag. 18
4.2. Tunu Field pag. 23
4.3. Sisi-Nubi Field pag. 30

5. The modern Mahakam Delta pag. 34

5.1 Regional Setting pag. 34
5.2 General Morphology pag. 34
5.3 Sedimentary Facies pag. 35
5.4. Facies Association and Interpretation pag. 38
5.5 Reservoir Geometry pag. 40

6. Ancient Mahakam Delta pag 41

6.1 Physiography of the Samarinda area pag.43
6.2. Stratigraphic framework pag.43
6.3. Tectonic framework pag.44
6.4. Sedimentological and stratigraphic approaches pag.45
 Field Trip
7. MODERN MAHAKAM DELTA
Mahakam Delta Over-flight pag 47
Day 1: Delta Plain Environments pag 48
Day 2: Delta Front Environments pag 54

8. ANCIENT MAHAKAM DELTA pag 56

Day 1: Fluvial to Deltaic Facies Tracts pag 56
Day 2: Deltaic to Prodelta Facies Tracts pag 64
Introduction
One of the methods to study the ancient depositional environments is by studying the
modern analogue. The Mahakam Delta in this respect is one of the best examples of
deltaic depositional setting in essence that it is easily accessible for research and for
long period has been relatively unaffected by large scale human activities. Though,
until quite recently that the delta has been affected by human activities such as the
constructions of large fishponds in the lower delta plain.

The Mahakam delta is a mix fluvial-tidal dominated delta developed since the last
Holocene stillstand approximately about 5000-6000 years ago. Numerous studies and
publications have discussed the fluvial-dominated and tidal dominated delta. A mix
fluvial-tidal dominated delta, on the other hand, has been inadequately studied.
Hence, the active Mahakam delta is one of the fluvial-tidal dominated delta in the
world that offers interesting features to observe. The major depositional environments
of the Mahakam delta such as the delta plain with straight distributary channels, and
the delta front with distributary mouth bars can be accessed within a single day by
boat from either Handil-2 or Samarinda. The distributary mouth bars, which are
exposed above sea level during low tide, furnish a unique opportunity for the field trip
participants to walk and make observations on sediments and sedimentary structures
of the mouth bar.

Numerous Miocene sedimentary rocks, which are outcropping within the city of
Samarinda and therefore are very easy to reach, enable us to study the ancient deltaic
environment and to make a comparison with the present day Mahakam delta.

The abundance of cores taken from Miocene rocks is also incorporated in this field
trip to show the field trip participants the hydrocarbon bearing reservoirs. This way
the participants can compare and relate the cores with the outcrops and the modern
sediment equivalent to understand the subsurface hydrocarbon systems.

The objective of this guidebook is to describe the depositional facies of the modern
and ancient delta and petroleum systems of the Miocene reservoirs. The text is
divided into 6 parts:
The first part presents the historical perspective on the exploration of the Mahakam.
The second part discusses about the general setting of the Kutai Basin. The third part
describes the petroleum system of Mahakam area. The fourth part is about the
geology of Tambora Field and Sisi-Nubi Field. The fifth part describes the
sedimentology of the modern Mahakam delta. The sixth part presents the outcrops
description of the ancient delta.

For those who are interested in the review of the sedimentary processes in the deltas
and coastal environments should refer to George & Chambers' book (1998) entitled
Sedimentation in the modern and Miocene Mahakam Delta published by the
Indonesian Petroleum Association.