Govt offers two options to speed up development of Masela gas field

The government has offered two options to speed up the development of the Masela gas field in the Timor gap, the deep sea area located at the border with Timor Leste, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Thursday.

Kardaya Warnika, the chairman of the regulatory body for oil and gas exploration and production BP Migas, said that the first option was to build a floating LNG plant in the Timor sea, while the second option was to build a LNG plant in the Indonesian area near the gas field location.

The Masela gas field, believed to have proven gas reserve of about 4.5 trillion cubic feet, is owned by Inpex Masela Ltd, which obtained the contract to explore the gas field in Novermber 1998.

Kardaya said that the gas field is located in the Indonesian territory but the uncertainty related to border lines with Timor Leste and Australia in the Timor Gap could in the future hamper the development of the field. (*)