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Inpex to sell Abadi gas to PGN

PROJECTS & INDONESIA’S state-owned distributor Perusa- local gas supply and up to 35,000 barrels per day
COMPANIES haan Gas Negara (PGN) has signed a prelimi- (bpd) of condensate production. Masela is esti-
nary agreement to buy natural gas from Japanese mated to hold 10.7 trillion cubic feet (303.02bn
developer Inpex’s Abadi field, which lies in the cubic metres) of proven gas reserves.
offshore Masela block. Inpex Masela, in which Inpex owns a 51.93%
The head of upstream regulator SKK Migas, interest, operates the block with a 65% stake.
Dwi Soetjipto, revealed on December 3 that the Royal Dutch Shell owns the remaining 35%, but
two firms had signed a memorandum of under- is reportedly interested in selling its share.
standing (MoU) on domestic gas supplies. In July, SKK Migas confirmed reports that
The official, who made the announcement Royal Dutch Shell intended to divest its 35% stake
during the 2020 International Convention on in the Masela Block, noting that low oil prices
Indonesian Upstream Oil & Gas (IOG 2020), and COVID-19 related development delays had
said the Abadi project was key to helping the prompted the exit plans. The super-major was
government reach its 2030 target of producing reported in late June as being interested to sell-
12bn cubic feet (339.84mn cubic metres) per day ing its stake for $2bn, with Inpex’s interest only
of gas in 2030. extending as far as a $400mn investment.
Inpex, meanwhile, said the following day that The government last year approved the con-
discussions with the gas infrastructure operator sortium’s revised plan of development for the
regarding a sales and purchase agreement (SPA) project, which scaled up the terminal’s capacity
would now begin. from 2.5mn tpy to 9.5mn tpy. The size of the
The Masela block, located in the southeast- project, as well as its price tag, were ramped up
ern Arafura sea, is the foundation for a planned after the government dictated that the proposed
9.5mn tonne per year liquefied natural gas floating LNG (FLNG) design must be sideline in
(LNG) terminal as well as another 1mn tpy of favour of an onshore terminal.™

Malaysia looks to

boost gas consumption

POLICY MALAYSIA has begun looking at ways of reduc- “Like every other country in the world, we are
ing its coal consumption in favour of natural gas, aiming for a reduction in coal consumption as
with one senior government official saying gas way to derive energy, as coal is still the biggest
demand could rise once a new energy roadmap component in our energy mix. Moving forward,
is launched next year. gas, hopefully, will play an important role,” the
Malaysian Minister of the Economy Mustapa New Straits Times quoted Mohamed as saying
Mohamed said last week that the country would on December 3.
play a “more active role” in gas and liquefied nat- The minister, who was speaking at the
ural gas (LNG) production and consumption. close of an industry event, said that while the

Week 49 10•December•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P7