JAKARTA (TheInsiderStories) - The oil and gas producer from Italy, Eni S.p.A, announced has started gas production of Merakes Project, located in the East Sepinggan block in the Makassar Strait, East Kalimantan. The Project is a deep-water gas field development at offshore Kutei Basin with approximately 1,500 meters water depth.
The five deep-water subsea wells will guarantee a production capacity of 450 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) or equivalent to 85,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOED). The field has been connected to the Jangkrik Floating Production Unit, also operated by the company, at a distance of 45 kilometers from Merakes field.
The synergy is estimating bring an advantage to the gas producer and optimizing its producing capacity up to 750 MMSCFD together with tthe Jangkrik gas field. The gas produced from Merakes is exported through subsea pipelines to the Jangkrik plant.
After being processed the gas is exported to the onshore receiving facility in Senipah via the existing Jangkrik export pipelines. Merakes gas will be partially sold to the domestic market and will also contribute to the extension of the life of the Bontang LNG facility, one of the most reliable liquefiedatural gas processing plants in the world.
Eni’ CEO Claudio Descalzi commented: “Merakes is one of Eni key projects in 2021. It will support the growth of gas production, inline with Eni strategic goals.”
The company is the operator of East Sepinggan block with an 65 percent share ownership through its affiliate, Eni East Sepinggan Ltd. The other partners are Neptune Energy East Sepinggan B.V. with 20 percent share and local partner, PT Pertamina Hulu Energi with the remaining share.
On Dec. 11, 2018, the production sharing contract scheme for the East Sepinggan was changed into Gross Split PSC to support the efficiency of oil and gas investment in Indonesia. Eni has been operating in Indonesia since 2001.
Data from upstream oil and gas regulator, SKKMigas, Indonesia’ first-quarter (1Q) crude oil and natural gas liftings missed their targets because of technical issues at wells and postponements at a LNG project. Crude oil liftings in the January to March period were 676,200 barrels per day (bpd) because of a higher water ratio in some of the oil wells and investment delays at some oil and gas projects because of the COVID-19 disruption last year.
According to the chairman, Dwi Soetjipto, in a virtual press briefing on Monday, in the 1Q of 2021, the natural gas liftings were 5,539 MMSCFD, down from its target of 5,638 MMSCFD. The biggest gap for gas lifting was in BP Tangguh LNG project because the targets to be on-stream in 2021 shifted to the end of this year or early 2022.
The start of operations of Train 3 at the block located in Bintuni bay, West Papua, was pushed back again because of labour restrictions during the pandemic. However, he said, SKKMigas still maintaining this year’ lifting outlooks as investments in upstream oil and gas sector are set to recover.
In 2021, the regulator estimated $12.4 billion of investment, up from $10.5 billion in 2020. Last quarter, Indonesia sold 46.2 standard LNG cargoes, 29.3 of which were exported.
Written by Editorial Staff, Email: theinsiderstories@gmail.com
