Energy ministry estimates shale gas potential reaches 570 tcf

The head of geology agency at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, R Sukhyar said based on latest study shale gas potential in Indonesia is estimated to reach 570 trillion cubic feet (tcf).

The data was obtained based on regular study undertaken by the government in four potential areas, namely Sumatera (North Sumatera, Riau, Jambi and South Sumatea), Java (East Java and northern coastal area of Java), Kalimantan (East Kalimantan and South Kalimantan) and Papua.

Sukhyar said it was a regular geology study and was not done in detail. He hopes that investors would conduct more thorough study and submitted the data to the government.

As for exploration and production, the energy ministry opt for direct offering to investors planning to conduct study.

The energy ministry expects that shale gas production can be done in 2020.

Syukhar said there are a lot of companies that have offered to carry out detailed study, however, the government has yet to make a decision. According to a source at the energy ministry, there are about seven or eight companies that have expressed interest to conduct detailed study on shale gas potential, all of them are from abroad

It requires significant amount of funds to develop shale gas. Some estimated that to drill 1 well requires an investment of between between US$7 to US$10 million as the drilling method is done horizontally.

Shale gas is unconventional gas like coal bed methane(CBM); and it is expected to boost domestic gas supply in the future.(giok)