Abstract

The Kerala-Konkan basin is part of western continental margin of India (WCMI), bordered by the Arabian Sea to the West and the Western Ghats to the East. The basin covers an area of more than 6,00,000 sq. km. with water depths varying from shallow water to bathymetries greater than 3000m. The basin has been of interest due to its proximity to major hydrocarbon-producing basins, such as the Mumbai Offshore Basin. The exploration in the Kerala-Konkan Basin began in the 1960s and 1970s; till date no commercial quantity of hydrocarbon is established. The basin's exploration history is characterized by challenges, including complex subsurface geology, presence of significantly thick volcanics from the Deccan Traps, and limited sedimentary cover in certain regions. The present study evaluates the existence of biogenic & thermogenic petroleum system and hydrocarbon potential of the area through a 2D Petroleum System Modeling (PSM) approach. The PSM study suggests that speculative Cretaceous and Paleocene-Early Eocene source sequences of the basin could generate thermogenic hydrocarbons in the deeper parts of the Kerala–Konkan Basin. Additionally, in the shelf-slope part of the Konkan area favourable conditions exist to generate biogenic Gas from speculative Late Miocene to Early Pleistocene source sequences