This chapter examines issues related to Indonesia's continental shelf and, in particular, those areas of continental shelf extending seaward of the 200-nautical-mile limit of Indonesia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which may form part of its legal continental shelf. Such areas are commonly referred to as the ‘outer’ or ‘extended’ continental shelf. The continental shelf can be considered to consist of the seabed and subsoil areas surrounding a coastal state's land territory. As a consequence of the link between a coastal state's land territory and the continental shelf surrounding it, coastal states possess sovereign rights over their continental shelf.

Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), in order to confirm their rights over extended continental shelf areas, eligible coastal states are required to make a submission to a specialized scientific body, the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. Indonesia is among the coastal states that are in a position to make such a submission and thereby confirm their sovereign rights over extended continental shelf areas.

On 16 June 2008, following approximately 10 years of preparatory work, Indonesia made a partial submission to the commission relating to an area to the northwest of Sumatra. Indonesia is understood to be in the process of preparing submissions in respect of two further areas of continental shelf beyond the 200-nautical-mile limit. Indonesia's submission was the first made by a Southeast Asian state and among the first on the part of a developing state. Confirmation of its rights over areas of continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from its baselines will offer Indonesia the opportunity to explore and exploit any natural resources discovered therein.

The deadline for submissions to the commission for many coastal states, including Indonesia, was 13 May 2009. However, demonstrating to the commission that seabed areas beyond the 200-nautical-mile limit properly form part of a coastal state's extended continental shelf is no easy task. Detailed geoscientific information is required in respect of the geology (composition) and morphology (shape) of the continental margins in question. Additionally, bathymetric (depth) data are needed, as are geodetically robust (that is, accurate) distance measurements from the state's coastal baselines. This necessitates the gathering of scientific information, notably through seismic and sonar surveys, and the interpretation of the data ahead of the submission, all of which is time consuming and expensive.