The Roles of Coal in Hydrocarbon Exploration in the Malay Basin: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The multifaceted role of coal in hydrocarbon exploration is analysed from a Geology and Geophysical perspective. The Malay Basin is one of a number of extensional ‘rift’ basins on the Sunda shelf of SE Asia. These basins generally have two distinct phases; (a) syn rift and (b) post rift. Tectono-stratigraphic basin development coupled with depositional environment has a direct relation with the charge system and hydrocarbon habitat of the basin. Miocene fluviodeltaic shales and coals occur in the Malay basin in the post rift section and are stratigraphically widespread from Group E to I and are a volumetrically significant facies.