Lemigas hopes to complete Kepodang field assessment early next year
Tuesday, November 21 2017 - 01:28 AM WIB
The Center for Research and Development of Oil and Gas Technology (or Lemigas) said it needs another three months in assessing the subsurface of the Kepodang field in Muriah block, offshore East Java, and hopes to complete it early next year, Kontan reported on Tuesday.
?Hopefully, early next year it will be completed,? said Andy Setyo, an official at Lemigas to the paper. He added that the results will also be discussed with Petronas, operator of the block, before submitting it to upstream oil and gas authority SKK Migas and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.
The results of the Lemigas assessment is needed by SKK Migas to decide a request from Petronas for the authority to declare a force majeure status for the Kepodang field because of lower than anticipated gas production and that the reserves will deplete sooner.
This portal in October quoted a source as saying that SKK Migas has received the Lemigas assessment and was in the process of evaluating it.
The source said that the Lemigas study confirmed an earlier suggestion that there has been overestimation of the Kepodang gas field reserves. The source said that based on material balance analysis by Lemigas, the Kepodang in-place reserves were estimated at only 107 bscf, which does not necessarily mean it can be entirely produced. In comparison, the Kepodang field plan of development (POD), approved by the government, states that the volume of hydrocarbon in the field that can be produced into gas totals 354 bscf.
Petronas in July reportedly was requesting approval from SKK Migas to declare force majeure due to its inability to fulfill gas contract volume from Kepodang field to Tambak Lorok power plant owned by state electricity firm PT PLN. Lemigas was then assigned to assess the Kepodang field subsurface.
SKK Migas said at the time that Petronas only managed to supply 70 mmcfd of gas from contracted volume out of 110 mmcfd contracted volume due to over estimation of the size of the field?s reservoir.
Petronas started flowing gas from Kepodang to Tambak Lorok power plant, which is located in Semarang, Central Java in 2015 under long-term contract that will end in 2026. Tambak Lorok has total generation capacity of 880 MW.
Petronas has 80 percent interest in Muriah with the balance held by Saka Energi, a subsidiary of IDX-listed gas distribution firm PT PGN Tbk. (*)