Minister meets Pertamina, Exxon on East Natuna
Saturday, August 6 2016 - 01:55 AM WIB
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arcandra Tahar held a meeting on Thursday with officials from state owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina and American firm ExxonMobil to discuss the development plan of East Natuna block in Riau Archipelago province.
Both firms are two main partners in the block. During the meeting, both firms told the minister that they are committed to developing the block but the problem is that they have yet to find buyers for the gas.
?During the meeting yesterday (Thursday), they promised to the minister they are committed to developing the East Natuna gas. However, they are still looking for a market for the gas. Once they have found the market and the price has been agreed upon, they will develop it,? Tunggal (one name), Director for the Management of Oil and Gas Upstream Activities at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.
The East Natuna block, formerly called D-Alpha, is estimated to hold up to 200 tcf of gas reserve, the largest gas reserve ever found in Indonesia. However, only 46 tcf of the gas is said to be recoverable due the high CO2 element contained in the reserve.
Syamsu Alam, President Director of PT Pertamina Hulu Energi, explained to Petromindo that the portion of CO2 in East Natuna gas is 72 percent.
?In order to develop East Natuna gas economically, the gas must be produced at a rate of around 1 bscfd of lean gas. That means that the gas must be produced at a gross rate of 4 bscfd, consisting of 1 bscfd of lean gas and 3 bscfd of CO2,? Syamsu said.
?The problem is not only related to the CO2-seperation technology, but also to the huge production volume. We can?t flare the CO2 to the sky, but has to inject it back to the reservoir. If someday there is a CO2 EOR program, we shall probably be able to utilize some of the CO2 for the program. But it depends on its economic viability,? Syamsu said.
He said during discussions on East Natuna, there has been an idea that in order that the East Natuna block can be economically viable to develop, the project should be developed with the upstream side (production) being integrated with the downstream side (consumer).
?If we only talk about the upstream side, we shall end up asking in confusion ?Who is going to buy it??. The bottom line is (East Natuna should be) an integrated project from upstream to downstream,? Syamsu said.
Editing by Johannes Simbolon