New reserves expected from 50 hydrocarbon structures
Friday, June 1 2012 - 03:10 PM WIB
Upstream authority BPMIGAS said that from all explorations conducted so far there were still 50 hydrocarbon structures that had a total potential reserve (2P) of 277 million barrels of oil and 5.5 trillion cubic feet of gas but had not been tapped yet.
The structures, which are located in 24 working areas across Indonesia, are expected to increase the oil and gas reserves and production in the next five years.
?We hope that the development of the hydrocarbon structures can be realized as planned so that our production will increase as soon as possible,? said BPMIGAS Deputy Chairman Hardiono during a closing ceremony of the agency?s Planning Forum in Bandung on Friday.
The forum was held to facilitate a sharing of knowledge among the production sharing contractors and supporting companies, and to formulate an estimate of reserve and production increase during the period of 2013 and 2017.
The forum was attended by about 300 participants, consisting of those from BPMIGAS, the ministry of energy and mineral resources, production sharing contractors, supporting companies, and universities.
According to Hardiono, currently the reserves found in eastern Indonesia are bigger in terms of volume if compared with those in western Indonesia. ?Our chances to increase reserves and production in the future will mainly come from eastern Indonesia,? he said.
He reminded that explorations in the upstream industry of oil and gas were businesses of high risk due to a lot of investments required wihout guarantee of finding the oil and gas, or if there be finding no guarantee that it be at amount economically feasible for development.
He cited the example in eastern Indonesia, where 21 exploration drillings had not resulted in finding of enough volume of reserves for production, although investments made so far had amounted to about US$1,3 billion. As the wells were still under the scheme of exploration the financial losses were footed by investors alone did not burden the government.
As the oil and gas explorations are very capital intensive and highly risk businesses then Indonesia still needs the role of private investors, both Indonesian and foreign ones. To reach the production target for the next five years, the government has expected 10 projects will contribute significantly. The 10 projects include Ruby, Donggi Senoro, Peciko-7C, Banyu Urip, Ande-Ande Lumut, Madura BD+MDA+MBH, Indonesia Deep Water Development (IDD), Jangkrik, and Kepodang.
Hardiono added that beside developing the new fields, efforts will also be pursued to increase production through the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technology using surfactans and polymer chemicals.
During 2012, there are 3 pilot EOR projects that will be implemented. They are in Minas field (by PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia), Tanjung (by PT Pertamina EP), and Kaji (by PT Medco E&P Indonesia).
?Until now, the EOR technology with chemicals had been only conducted in laboratories. This year, it will be conducted in the fields,? said Hardiono, adding that the technology application would be implemented during the next five to ten years and if its applications are successful then it will be pursued in full scale, as it is expected to increase production of oil and gas very significantly.
He noted that in Tanjung field, the EOR would be conducted using the surfactant chemicals invented and produced by the researchers of the Bogor-based University of Agriculture (IPB).
Hardiono reminded the production sharing contractors to really implement the working plan for the next five years, especially in relations to increasing the reserves through exploration activities and increasing production from new fields and existing ones. ?This working plan should be our common commitment in increasing the performance of upstream oil and gas industry,? he said.
Table: Projects expected to increase production
| No | Fields | Production start |
| ? | Ruby
|
2013 |
| ? | Donggi Senoro | 2014 |
| ? | Peciko-7C | 2014 |
| ? | Banyu Urip | 2014 |
| ? | Ande-Ande Lumut | 2015 |
| ? | Madura BD + MDA + MBH | 2015 |
| ? | Indonesia Deep Water Development (IDD) | 2015 |
| ? | Jangkrik | 2015 |
| ? | Kepodang | 2015 |
Editing by Benget Besalicto Tnb.