Inpex told to submit Abadi gas field PoD

Upstream oil and gas regulatory body BPMIGAS has given Japanese oil and gas firm Inpex Corp. until May next year to submit the final plan of development (PoD) for Abadi gas field in Masela block, Timor Sea.

BPMIGAS? head Kardaya Warnika said in Jakarta Monday that as of now, Inpex Corp had yet to "meet its obligation" to submit a final PoD even though BPMIGAS had asked the company to do so.

?The final PoD should be submitted before May (2008) so that we have enough time to evaluate it,? he said.

In August 2007, Inpex discovered gas from the Abadi-4 appraisal drilling well, which flowed 29 MMCFD of gas from 3,589-3,867 meters and 3,873-3,885 meters intervals through ? inch choke.

Abadi-4 well is part of the 3-4 wells appraisal drilling campaign Inpex planned to undertake in the block before submitting a PoD to commercialize the discovery.

The Masela Block is located offshore southwest of Tanimbar Island, about 800 kilometers east of Kupang and approximately 400 kilometers north of Darwin, Australia. Inpex operates the block with 100 percent working interest.

In 2002, Inpex confirmed a large natural gas accumulation in the block after two appraisal wells, Abadi-2 and Abadi-3, tested a total 32.4 MMCFD of gas.

Gas reserves at Masela are estimated to be around 4-7 TCF, which could warrant for development of an LNG plant. Report from Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai said in October last year that Inpex will invest US$4 billion to develop an LNG plant in Masela, capable of producing 3 MTPA of LNG, with production to seen to begin in 2015. (godang)