PTTEP agrees for East Natuna gas to be allocated for Indonesia

By Febry Silaban

Thailand's Oil and Gas Company, PTT Exploration & Production (PTTEP), has agreed that the bulk of gas production from the East Natuna project to be allocated for the Indonesian market, whereas the rest is for Thailand.

"The Thailand?s Minister and CEO of PTT have agreed that the majority of the East Natuna gas is for Indonesia," said Indonesian Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Jero Wacik, after meeting with visiting Minister of Energy of Thailand, Pongsak Raktaponpaisal, and the President & CEO of PTTEP, Tevin Vongnanich, in Jakarta, Friday.

During the visit, said Jero, they discussed cooperation between Indonesia and Thailand in the field of energy.

He said that the East Natuna project is a project that requires sophisticated technology and big investment. "The project offshore East Natuna contains very high CO2, so it requires a very high technology. But now the technology is already owned. So we are waiting for the preparation of the PoD," said Jero, referring to the Plan of Development.

Jero continued, the investment in East Natuna block is very large, reaching approximately US$ 20 billion, about the same with investment in the Masela block. "So we'll have a huge gas projects in the future, in the East there is Masela, and in the West there is East Natuna," said Jero, promising that all relevant approvals for East Natuna will begin this year, so next year the project can start rolling.

East Natuna project is owned by Indonesian state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina, Total, ExxonMobil, and PTTEP.

Meanwhile, Director General of Oil and Gas, Edy Hermantoro, explained that the gas reserves of the East Natuna block is about 212 tcf. "But, because it contains 75% CO2, the gas reserves that can be recovered is a quarter, which is 70 tcf," said Edy.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak