Eni unveils plan to develop Merakes gas field, seeks public input

Italian firm Eni through subsidiary Eni East Sepinggan Ltd unveiled on Tuesday plan to develop the Merakes gas field in East Sepinggan block, East Kalimantan Province, and is seeking public inputs as the company prepares to draft the environmental impact assessment (or Amdal) document of the project.

Eni said in an announcement that the Amdal, which includes the environmental monitoring/management plan (or RKPL/RPL) documents, is required to help deal with the environmental impact of planned activities in the development of the Merakes gas field.

The company said that the Merakes gas field development activities include drilling of six production wells and construction of undersea facilities such as pipelines and cables to transmit gas from the field to the floating production unit (FPU) at the nearby Jangkrik field, which is also operated by Eni.

Eni said that in line with existing regulations, the company is required to get public inputs in drafting the Amdal document. The company said that the inputs may be submitted to the company?s office in Jakarta, or to the Directorate General of Environment at the Ministry of Forestry and Environment in Jakarta, or to the environmental offices of local administrations including the East Kalimantan provincial administration, regency administrations of Penajam Paser Utara, and Kutai Kertanegara, and Balikpapan mayoralty.

Eni is the operator of East Sepinggan PSC with subsidiary Eni East Sepinggan Limited holding 85 percent interest while Pertamina Hulu Energy holds the remaining 15 percent.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak