Missed Opportunities for Hydrocarbon Exploration at Intra-Stage IVC Play in NW Sabah Basin

Sabah Stage IVC is one of the most prolific Late Miocene clastic plays in NW Sabah basin with major discoveries in the Stage IVC play as evident from the Samarang, Kinabalu and Sumandak fields. Based on well data and past literatures, it was indicative that a localized flooding event had occurred in association with sudden drop in sea-level during Intra-Stage IVC within Sabah Inboard region specifically the Labuan-Paisley Syncline area. Recent internal studies on the region south of the Sumandak & Glayzer fields support this theory based on anomalous interpretations for Intra-Stage IVC in the Labuan-Paisley Syncline-Glayzer field area due to the mismatched bathyal depositional environment amidst an otherwise coastal plain to neritic environment typical of Sabah Inboard. Located along the same trend up north, the Tembungo field in the Outboard region observes similar contrast in the deposition environments within Stage IVC which despite having different tectonic imprints may suggest that the Intra-IVC flooding event could also be regional in nature. With today’s modern reprocessed seismic data, abundance of wells drilled, and an improved model of the Intra-Stage IVC play in the Labuan-Paisley Syncline area and efforts are now concentrated on identifying shingled-turbidite occurrences as missed opportunities for hydrocarbon exploration.