MDA-MBH gas fields to be on-stream in Q2 2019: SKK Migas

Godang Sitompul

The MDA-MBH gas fields in the Madura Strait Block, offshore East Java Province, operated by Husky CNOOC Madura Ltd (HCML), is projected to start flowing gas to a fertilizer plant owned by PT Petrokimia Gresik (PKG) in the second quarter (Q2) of 2019, a delay from the original schedule of 2017, according to upstream oil and gas authority SKK Migas.

SKK Migas? Head of Communications Division, Wisnu Prabawa Taher told Petromindo.com on Friday that the fields could not yet start gas production as construction of the required offshore facilities have yet to be completed.

?The MDA-MBH fields will supply gas at a volume of 85 mmscfd to PKG with on-stream target in the second quarter of 2019,? Wisnu said.

PKG and HCML signed a gas sales and purchase agreement (GSA) in 2015 for the supply of 85 mmscfd of gas from Madura Strait block?s MDA-MBH fields to the former?s fertilizer plant in Gresik, East Java, from 2017 through 2026. PKG was expected to complete the new fertilizer plant in 2017, in line with the initial production schedule of the gas fields.

A source told Petromindo.com that construction of the ammonia and urea plant has been completed, but will have to remain idle as the required gas supply could not yet be realized as scheduled under the GSA.

In August of last year, SKK Migas said that the MDA-MBH fields were targeted to come on stream at the end of 2018.

In July of this year, PT Pertamina Gas, a subsidiary of state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina, which will act as the shipper of the gas, said that construction progress of the required 70-km gas pipeline has reached 70 percent, and was expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak