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Chapter 1 Introduction to the Petroleum Geology of Myanmar

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Chapter 1

Introduction to the Petroleum Geology of Myanmar

MICHAEL F. RIDD1* & ANDREW RACEY2

1
43 Prospect Quay, Point Pleasant, Wandsworth, London, SW18 1PR, UK
2
Andy Racey Geoscience, 5 Norris Close, Whitehill, Hampshire, GU35 9EG, UK
*Corresponding author (e-mail: michaelfridd@hotmail.com)

Before the birth of the modern, mechanized, petroleum industry,
Myanmar (formerly Burma) was an exporter of oil products from
its hand-dug wells in the centre of the country. It is now an impor-
tant exporter again, but of gas from its offshore fields, and the inter-
national petroleum companies are keen to obtain acreage both
onshore and offshore; in the lead-up to the 2013 offshore round
no fewer than 60 companies pre-qualified with the Ministry of
Energy of the Myanmar government.
Past petroleum studies
It was not until the incorporation of Burma into British India in
1885 that extensive geological research was initiated in the
country, with many of these articles (up to independence in
1948) being published in reports of the Geological Survey of
India. Historically important publications by their geologists in-
cluded a study of the all-important Tertiary rocks by Noetling
(1895) followed by his account of the country’s petroleum occur-
rences (Noetling 1897). A more detailed study followed, covering
the core petroleum-bearing area (what we now call the Salin Basin
in the Central Burma Depression, Fig. 1.1) by Grimes (1898). As a
modern petroleum industry became established following the for-
mation of the Burmah Oil Company in 1886, the Geological
Survey of India (Pascoe 1912) published a major update of what
the author described had become ‘. . . .one of the most important
industries of the Indian Empire.’ Accounts of the oil fields
by industry geologists included those by Stamp (1927), Evans
(1941) and Tainsh (1950); meanwhile, a major study of the
wider geology of Burma was published by Chhibber (1934a) and
of its mineral resources by the same author (Chhibber 1934b). In
many respects those works by Chhibber remain standard refer-
ences on Burmese geology, as does the later study by Pascoe
(1950 –1964).
Most geological fieldwork since independence has focused on
mineral exploration, with systematic mapping of selected areas
only starting in the late 1960s. Some of that information is in
reports which have limited availability, such as the study of the
Shan scarps region by the United Nations Development Pro-
gramme (1978); that which is more widely published tends to be
on metallogenesis, tectonics and local gravity surveys. A series
of papers was published between 1968 and 1971 on petroleum
geology in the Union of Burma Journal of Science and Technol-
ogy. Further publications have come from bilateral development
projects with Australian, British, French and German government
bodies. The latter gave rise to what is still the current authority on
the geology of Burma as a whole (Bender 1983), which contains an
exhaustive bibliography.
Mention should also be made of Mitchell who, although not a
petroleum geologist, has done more than most to stimulate discus-
sion of the tectonic history of Myanmar. Mitchell (1986) coined
the term Victoria Land for the Gondwana-derived platelet which
forms the eastern belt of the Indo-Burman Ranges, and other
notable contributions include Mitchell (1981, 1992) and Mitchell
et al. (2007, 2012).
Pascoe (1950 –1964) and Bender (1983) include brief sections
on petroleum geology in their wide-ranging geological accounts
of the country, but understandably they were unable to include
the offshore geology. Since then papers have been published on
particular aspects of onshore and offshore petroleum geology
but, to our knowledge, none on Myanmar’s overall petroleum
geology. The present account therefore seeks to provide such an
overview, using as data sources published papers, information
gathered from companies’ websites and Powerpoint presentations,
in particular those by Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE),
the instrument of the Myanmar government for petroleum explora-
tion, development and production.
Current oil and gas production
Oil and gas are produced in Myanmar from Cenozoic sedimen-
tary rocks that occur in the 1200 km-long Central Burma
Depression as well as in the three areas into which the Ministry
of Energy has divided its offshore territory (Fig. 1.2). The
onshore Rakhine coastal strip (R in Fig. 1.2) saw minor oil pro-
duction from hand-dug wells in the past and is included in this
study for completeness. However, MOGE’s presentation material
states that basins on the Shan Plateau (Namyau, Hsipaw-Lashio
and Kalaw basins) and at the northern end of the Tanintharyi
peninsula (Mawlamyine and Mepale basins) (Fig. 1.2) also
have petroleum potential, but they have seen little or no explora-
tion and available geological data are limited. These frontier
basins are discussed in Chapter 5.
While oil continues to be produced onshore from a number
of small- to medium-sized fields, it is the discovery and pro-
duction of offshore gas and associated gas-liquids which have
transformed the country’s petroleum prospects and economy, as
shown in Figure 1.3. In June 2013 the Ministry of Energy an-
nounced that onshore oil production was averaging 7500 b/d and
gas 65 MMcf/d (the Ministry’s daily gas production figure in 2013
compares with MOGE’s figure of 56 490 MMcf/d in 2014; Kyaw
Kyaw Aung 2014); offshore production was around 10 000 b/d of
gas-liquids and oil and 1.4 Bcf/d of gas. MOGE’s estimate of
proven (?remaining) reserves in 2006 was 115.116 MMbbls oil
and 0.309 Tcf gas (onshore) and 100.892 MMbbls condensate
and 15.845 Tcf gas (offshore).
Independent estimates of the country’s proven gas reserves by
BP have varied year by year as more data have become available.
For example, at end-2009 BP’s estimate of proven reserves was
20.1 Tcf; by end-2010 reserves had dropped to 11.8 Tcf; and by
end-2011 it had fallen again to 7.8 Tcf. This figure was adopted
again for end-2012, before rising to 10 Tcf at end-2013 (BP
Statistical Review of World Energy 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012,
2013, 2014). For comparison, the United Kingdom’s proven gas
reserves at end-2013 are stated by BP to be 8.6 Tcf. BP does

From: Racey, A. & Ridd, M. F. 2015. Petroleum Geology of Myanmar.

Geological Society, London, Memoirs, 45, 1–6. http://doi.org/10.1144/M45.01
# 2015 The Authors. Published by The Geological Society of London. All rights reserved.
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2 M. F. RIDD & A. RACEY

Fig. 1.2. The petroliferous areas of Myanmar. The onshore Central

Fig. 1.1. Myanmar, the largest country in mainland SE Asia, with main rivers
and administrative states shown in various tones. The longest river is the
Thanlwin (formerly the Salween), one of the great rivers which rises on the
Tibetan Plateau, reaching the sea in the Gulf of Moattama. Note that some of
the states of the Central Burma Depression are small in area and have
been omitted.
not provide an estimate of Myanmar’s oil reserves, but we esti-
mate the proven reserves, including condensate, to be in the
hundreds-of-millions of barrels range rather than billions. For the
Burma Depression is gas and oil bearing whereas the offshore area is
mostly gas bearing, with some condensate. The boundaries of the offshore area
with neighbouring Thailand, India and Bangladesh are approximate.
Bathymetric contours greater than 1000 m have been omitted. R is the onshore
Rakhine coast where minor oil occurrences have been produced in the past from
hand-dug wells. Questionable onshore basins considered by MOGE (e.g. Tin
Maung Yee 2012) also to be prospective are N (Namyau), H-L
(Hsipaw-Lashio), K (Kalaw), Mp (Mepale), S (Sittaung Valley) and
M (Mawlamyine). Basins within the Central Burma Depression are shown in
red, the boundaries between them being arbitrary or marked by subtle
structural highs.
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INTRODUCTION 3

(a) oil and gas liquids

32 000
30 000
28 000
26 000
24 000
22 000
20 000
Barrels per day

18 000
16 000
14 000 offshore
12 000
10 000
8000
onshore
6000
4000
2000

2000

2005
1975

1985

1990
1980

2010
1995

(b) gas
1400
1300
1200
1100

1000
Average million scf/day

900
800
700

600
offshore Fig. 1.3. (a) History of Myanmar oil and
gas-liquids production to 2013. (b) History
500
of gas production in Myanmar to 2012. The
400 offshore Yadana gas field was discovered in
300 1983 and came into production in 2000.
Yetagun was discovered in 1992 and also
200
onshore came into production in 2000; other
100 offshore fields followed, including the Shwe
fields in 2004 and Zawtika in 2005. From
2000

2005
1975

1985

1990
1980

2010
1995

MOGE (Zaw Aung 2012; Kyaw Kyaw

Aung 2014).

US Geological Survey, Wandrey (2006) estimated undiscovered Rakhine Coastal Lowlands where oil and gas are present and
resources (50% probability) onshore and offshore at 624 MMbbls have been produced on a small scale hitherto.
oil, 17.976 Tcf gas and 669 MMbbls of natural gas-liquids. The Indo-Burman Ranges extend some 1300 km to the southern
tip of the Rakhine (Arakan) Peninsula, and their geological ana-
logue reappears 1700 km further south as the Andaman Islands.
Physiography and drainage The ranges form the border between India and Myanmar in the
north while in the south they separate the Rakhine Coastal Low-
Myanmar is the largest country in mainland SE Asia, with a land lands from the Central Burma Depression. The southern, pen-
area of some 676 577 km2 and a continental shelf area of insular, portion of Myanmar adjoining Thailand is Tanintharyi
229 754 km2 down to the 200 m isobath (510 335 km2 to the Province (previously Tenasserim), comprising mountains and
200 km territorial limit from the shoreline). The shoreline has a narrow coastal plains.
total length of 2052 km (Figs 1.1 & 1.4). The Central Burman Depression comprises a complex of basins
The country comprises five main topographic regions: (1) the straddling a partly concealed volcanic arc which appears most pro-
Kachin Ranges (part of the greater Sino-Burman Ranges) in the minently at Mt Popa (1518 m) and Taungthonlon (1708 m, 340 km
north; (2) the Indo-Burman Ranges in the west, the coastal north of Mandalay) (Fig. 1.5). The southern part of the depression
Myanmar portion of which is referred to as the Rakhine Yoma is divided unequally into the Ayeyarwady (formerly Irrawaddy)
(formerly Arakan Yoma); (3) the Shan Plateau in the east; (4) valley in the west and the smaller Sittaung Valley in the east adja-
the Central Burma Depression in the middle which is the habitat cent to the Shan Plateau, and are themselves separated by the Bago
of most of the onshore petroleum; and (5) to the WSW the Yoma range of hills (formerly the Pegu Yoma). The deltaic lower
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4 M. F. RIDD & A. RACEY

(a) (b)

Fig. 1.4. (a) Digital elevation model (DEM) of Myanmar and surrounding region (courtesy of NASA and the US Geological Survey). (b) Simplified key to principal
geographical features of the DEM; approximate outlines of upland areas are shown in pale brown.

portions of the Ayeyarwady and Sittaung valleys cover a level and
low-lying delta-plain of some 31 000 km2 which is prone to flood-
ing; wide areas were devastated by the tsunami resulting from the
26 December 2004 Great Sumatra earthquake.
Two large tropical Neogene deltas drain into offshore Myanmar.
The Ganges/Brahmaputra at the head of the Bay of Bengal is
responsible for the Bengal Fan which has an offshore area in
Myanmar of 171 361 km2 and a Miocene – Pleistocene sediment
thickness of up to 20 km. The Ayeyarwady Delta is prominent
onshore, but offshore its sediments were deflected eastwards into
the Martaban Basin where they cannot easily be distinguished
from input from the Sittaung and Thanlwin rivers.
The principal drainage system onshore Myanmar comprises the
north –south-flowing Ayeyarwady River and its associated tributar-
ies, which drain around 66% of onshore Myanmar with the main
part of the Ayeyarwady system emptying into the Andaman Sea.
The Chindwin River drains the northwestern part of the country
before joining the Ayeyarwady downstream of Mandalay. The
much smaller Pathein River drains the southeastern Rakhine
Yoma and the Rangoon River drains the southern Bago Yoma,
both joining the network of waterways which is the Ayeyarwady
Delta. The Shan Plateau in the east is drained by the Thanlwin
(Salween) River which enters the Gulf of Martaban south of the
Sittaung River and is one of the great rivers which rise on the
Tibetan Plateau. These rivers contributed most of the clastic
sediment-fill observed offshore in the Gulf of Moattama Basin,
much of which is of Pliocene age. Along the Rakhine Coastal Low-
lands short rivers flowing westwards into the Bay of Bengal pro-
vided a significant portion of the Plio-Pleistocene sediment-fill in
the offshore Rakhine Basin, while the Brahmaputra river system
(as part of the Bengal Fan) provided sediment input into the
Rakhine Basin from the north throughout the Neogene. The hill
country of peninsular Myanmar (Tanintharyi) is drained by short
rivers flowing westwards into the Gulf of Moattama and the
Tanintharyi Shelf area.
A notable feature of Myanmar’s rivers is the extent to which
they follow the structural grain of the underlying rocks. In places
this involves a large change in the direction of flow, for instance
the Moei River that partly forms the border with Thailand
doubles back from NW-flowing to SSE-flowing where it joins
the Thanlwin River at about latitude 178N. River capture may
have played a part in the development of the country’s drainage
pattern through the Cenozoic, as suggested by Robinson et al.
(2014).
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INTRODUCTION 5

Fig. 1.5. Digital elevation model (DEM) of part

of the Central Burma Depression; the E– W width
of the area covered is c. 125 km. The
Indo-Burman Ranges are in the SW corner and the
Shan Plateau in the east. Mt Popa is the
conspicuous cone in the top-centre. The western
part of the depression comprises the Cenozoic
petroleum-bearing Salin Basin, the steeply
dipping western flank of which is the belt of ridges
termed the Western Outcrops. The hilly ground
forming a NNW– SSE belt east of Mt Popa is the
Bago Yoma, an anticlinorium of Ceonozoic
sediments, bounded on the east by the nearly N–S
dextral Sagaing Fault. A distinct WNW– ESE
lineament crosses almost the entire width of the
Central Burma Depression just below the centre of
the image, and is inferred to be a fault.

90 95 100

25

20
Naypyidaw

Yangon

15
Thrust faults
(inc. anticlines)
Normal faults
Right-lateral faults
Left-lateral faults Fig. 1.6. Simplified neotectonic map of
Major twentieth and Myanmar and surrounding areas, showing
twenty-first century active faults (including inferred faults) and
earthquakes anticlines and also the epicentres of the
twentieth and twenty-first century
500 km
earthquakes of M . 6.5. Modified from
Wang et al. (2014).
 Downloaded from http://mem.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on October 26, 2015
6 M. F. RIDD & A. RACEY
An excellent and easily obtained topographic map of Myanmar
at 1:1 200 000 scale is published by Freytag and Berndt of Vienna
(ISBN 3-7079-0652-3; www.freytagberndt.com).
Seismicity
Myanmar is one of the most seismically active countries in the
world. The country’s seismicity reflects the continued northwards
collision of the Indian Plate with Eurasia, the Burma Platelet being
the buffer zone between the two (see Chapter 2). The crustal reac-
tion to that oblique convergence has been widespread earthquakes
which are related to: (1) the subduction of the India Plate beneath
the Burma Platelet (although Rangin et al. (2013) argue that the
western boundary of the Burma Platelet north of the Andaman
Islands has not been subducted since the Mesozoic, the seismicity
in that northern zone therefore resulting from ongoing detachment
and sinking of an old slab); (2) right-lateral movement on mostly
N –S or NW –SE wrench faults with accompanying thrusting;
and (3) left-lateral movement on wrench faults with WSW –ENE
trends, caused by the clockwise flow of the lithosphere as it is dis-
placed under gravity from beneath the eastern Himalaya syntaxis.
A study of the neotectonics of Myanmar has been carried out by
Wang et al. (2014) from satellite imagery and fieldwork, and
their simplified map is provided in Figure 1.6.
It is not clear the extent to which recent movements, for example
on faults, have affected the petroleum trap potential of structures.
There is a risk that pre-existing traps might have been breached and
allowed oil or gas to escape, and any prospect which is dependent
on sealing by a still-active fault might have an extra degree of risk
because of it. However, Curiale et al. (1994) argue that (onshore at
least) generation and migration are still continuing, tending to keep
traps topped up as they may become modified by young structural
deformation. Another consequence of the seismicity of Myanmar
and surrounding regions is the risk that it poses to operations,
including the risk of structural damage to buildings, roads, rail-
ways, dams and pipelines. An equally serious risk is that of flood-
ing of lowland coastal areas by tsunamis generated offshore; as
mentioned above, much of coastal Myanmar was devastated by
the tsunami caused by the Boxing Day 2004 Sumatran earthquake.
Landslides can also be triggered by earthquakes, both onshore and
offshore, and it is thought that major submarine slides which fan
out into deep water off the Rakhine coast were triggered by such
seismic shocks.
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