Pertamina drills third well in Mahakam block
Thursday, August 17 2017 - 03:06 AM WIB
State-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina is currently drilling a third well, out of the target to drill 14-15 development wells, in Mahakam block, East Kalimantan.
?We have started drilling the third well. It?s our commitment to maintain production at Mahakam block,? said Pertamina Upstream Director Syamsu Alam on Wednesday.
He said that the company was happy to be able to cooperate with Total E&P Indonesie so that timeline target can be accelerated, and making the cost more efficient.
?If everything goes well, we hope to be able to drill more than 14-15 wells this year,? he said.
The current contract of Total and its partner Inpex Corp over the Mahakam block will expire at the end of this year. The government has appointed Pertamina through indirect subsidiary PT Pertamina Hulu Mahakam (PHM) to take over the block starting next year. But under an agreement with Total, PHM has been allowed to start making investment this year in a bid to help maintain production of the block during the transition period to the new operator.
PHM started drilling the first well at Tunu field in Mahakam on July 16, 2017. The first PHM well is called TN-N74 and TN-N75 with a depth of around 1,078 meters. PHM plans to drill a total of 14-15 wells this year at the Tunu, Tambora, and Handil in Mahakam.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak