Pertamina mulls cooperation with Shell top develop giant gas block

State oil and gas company PT.Pertamina is interested in employing Royal Dutch/Shell technology in handling CO2 in exploiting Natuna D Alpha giant block and is probing Shell?s possibility as one of Pertamina?s partner in the block, Detik reported on Monday.

?Shell claimed to have efficient technology in separating CO2 from gas and injecting the CO2 back to the ground,? Pertamina CEO Ari Soemarno said after accompanying Shell?s Executive Director Exploration & Production Malcolm Brinded to meet with Vice President Jusuf Kalla Monday.

Pertamina is currently scouting for partners to exploit the giant block after the government has terminated the contract of block?s previous operator ExxonMobil and handed the operatorship to Pertamina.

The block has around 222 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas reserves, of which about 46 TCF is thought to be commercially recoverable. The gas has high carbon dioxide content ? something that makes the project needs sophisticated technology and huge investment to develop.

A number of international E&P companies have expressed interest to partner with Pertamina to develop the block. (*)