Chevron formally assumes operatorship of deepwater gas project

US super major Chevron Corp. and its partners in Makassar Straits deepwater gas project known as Indonesia Deepwater Development (IDD) on Tuesday had signed unitization agreement to develop the project, a senior official with upstream oil, gas authority BPMIGAS said.

Vice-Chairman Hardiono told Petromindo.Com on Wednesday that under the so called ?Project Governance and Operating Agreement?, Chevron Indonesia Company will be appointed as operator to develop the project, which scope will cover four separate blocks.

Hardiono said that Chevron would formally take over operatorship of Muara Bakau block from Italian firm Eni SpA. Chevron is the operator of other three blocks namely Rapak, Ganal and Makassar Straits.

The IDD project will be the first deepwater subsea mega project in Indonesia. The project will require development capital of US$7-8.5 billion and first gas is estimated 6.5-8 years from PoD approval. PoD for the project was approved by the government last year.

Gas from the fields will boost supply to Bontang LNG plant. (bernard)