Page 10 - AsianOil Week 04 2023

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Indonesia welcomes Italian gas investments

INDONESIA ITALIAN multinational energy firm Eni, one of by Eni, with the overall business split at the East
the largest oil companies in the world, is expand- Sepinggan block agreed on a 65% share for the
Eni has had its ing its gas investments in the Far East in a signif- Italian company, 20% for Neptune Energy and
$3.35bn investment icant manner. 15% for Pertamina.
at the Merakas gas Already operating in 69 countries worldwide, A statement released by Dwi Soetjipto, cur-
fields approved by the the Rome based energy giant last week saw a rent chairman of the government regulator, to
government. $3.35bn investment plan in the Merakes gas announce the deal with Eni and subsequent
fields given the thumbs up by the government launch of the project said: “The development
of Indonesia. of this field will provide additional reserves to
The Merakes gas fields are located around 30 ensure supply to the East Kalimantan System so
km offshore in the waters of East Kalimantan that the Bontang LNG refinery can operate more
Province, in the east of the 250 km wide strait optimally.”
separating the islands of Borneo and Sulawesi in Eni, for its part, has remained quiet, with no
Indonesia's north-west. statement made publicly to the media or on the
It is an area known for its extreme climate and firm’s homepage.
frequent seismic activity. Of its operations in the region, a statement
Eni along with its partners in its Indonesian on the the Italian firm’s homepage does, how-
operations, UK-based Neptune Energy and Per- ever, say that “we aim to produce natural gas for
tamina, Indonesia’s state-owned oil and gas com- the benefit of host countries and sell increasing
pany, first started pumping gas from the Merakes volumes of LNG that can replace coal, helping
fields in April 2021, three years after agreeing to reduce emissions while meeting the region's
terms with central government authorities in growing energy needs. Opportunities for
Jakarta. co-operation are abundant in the area, includ-
The most recent project to be agreed is in the ing through specific agreements focusing on the
East Sepinggan Block as currently operated by skills and innovative technologies that Eni has
Eni. already developed.”
Gas produced at the East Sepinggan site will Initial investment plans in the Merakes site
be supplied both to the domestic market in this was provisionally set at around $1.3bn when
largely underdeveloped rural corner of the coun- first discussed, with a peak production rate at
try, in addition to the Bontang LNG export facil- the time projected to be in the region of 368mn
ity located onshore in East Kalimantan. standard cubic feet (10.42mn cubic metres) per
The 55-year-old terminal, despite serving as day .
a long-term lynchpin in sending gas supplies After negotiations, however, the final plan
to regional economic giants Japan and South agreed has the potential to increase eventual
Korea, is now showing its age with a series of production capacity to a maximum output of
maintenance issues in recent years. 440 mmcf (12.46 mcm) per day.
Of the $3.35bn investment, $2.14bn is listed SKK Migas went on to say that the Mer-
as going towards capital expenditure, with akes gas fields are expected to be operational
another $1.26bn on operational expenditure until as late as 2032 on the back of what Eni
requirements, according to the upstream oil and has previously claimed to be reserves in the
gas agency of the central Indonesian govern- East Sepinggan Block that could total around
ment, SKK Migas, earlier in the week. 2 trillion cubic feet (56.6bn cubic metres) of
Day to day operations at the site are managed gas. ™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 04 27•January•2023