Inpex to commence drilling campaign at Masela in June

By Godang Sitompul

Indonesian unit of Japan oil, gas firm Inpex Corp will commence delineation drilling campaign at Masela giant gas block, Arafura Sea, in June this year, to be followed by drilling of one exploration well.

Nico Muhyidin, Inpex Indonesia Corporate Services VP told Petromindo.Com that the company will drill three delineation wells called Abadi 8, 9 and 10 using Transocean?s drillship.

The exploration well will be called Berkat-1. Inpex has discovered a huge amount of gas in the block and is planning to develop floating LNG production facility. The Masela block is expected to produce 2.5 million tons of LNG per year and 8,400 barrels of condensate per day, starting 2018 or 2019.

Nico said that Inpex expected FEED for the Masela FLNG will be completed mid-2014 with construction to start in 2015.

Editing by Alexander Ginting