Page 5 - AsianOil Week 27

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Pertamina to boost Algerian production
PERFORMANCE
INDONESIA’S state-run Pertamina Interna- sional EP (PIEP) anticipates raising oil and gas production from its Algerian elds by 10% this year and next, president director Denie S Tam- pubolon has said.
The executive said the company intended to meet this target by drilling 20 new wells in the African country until 2021, with drilling operations at seven wells having already been launched in 2018.
“[Production] will grow 10% to 22,000- 23,000 barrels per day [this year] of oil from the existing rate of around 20,000 bpd,” e Jakarta Post quoted him as saying a er a ceremony to mark state-owned parent company Pertamina’s rst synthetic drilling mud shipment to Algeria on July 4.
PIEP operates the Menzel Lejmat North (MLN) eld with a 65% stake, it also owns 16.9% of the EMK eld and 3.73% of the Ourhoud eld. e company reportedly operates 67 oil wells in the country.
PIPE is carrying out the Phase-4 Develop- ment Project at MLN, which lies in Block 405a, with the rst well completed in June 2018. It was drilled using the Rig-3 Sahara.
PIEP shipped 18,000 bpd of Algerian oil to Indonesia in 2018 and is aiming to li this year’s shipments by 10%.
Pertamina exported 4,000 barrels of Smooth Fluid-05 (SF-05) to Algeria, with the shipment being supplied by the company’s Balikpapan
re nery in East Kalimantan Province. Pertam- ina corporate marketing director Basuki Trikora Putra said the shipment of SF-05, which was exported via 27 ISO tank containers, was valued at IDR10bn ($707,000).
e drilling mud will be used in PIEP’s oper- ations at MLN, with the developer potentially requiring an additional 28,000 barrels to drill all 20 wells.
“ is initial export is the beginning of a mile- stone for SF-05 to be accepted in the global mar- ket,” Basuki said. He added: “Hopefully, SF-05 products can be accepted not only by customers in Algeria, but also by customers throughout the world.”
Indonesian Energy Ministry spokesman Agung Pribadi said the use of SF-05 would increase drilling e ciencies, without providing speci cs.™
Petronas quits Dragon LNG
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
MALAYSIA’S state-owned Petronas has offloaded its 50% stake in the Dragon LNG import terminal in the Welsh town of Milford Haven to London-based infrastructure inves- tor Ancala Partners. The Malaysian firm will continue buying supplies from Dragon under a long-term agreement, however.
“Dragon LNG is well placed to bene t from reducing UK gas storage capacity and maturing North Sea gas production,” Lee Mellor, a partner at Ancala, commented on July 2. “With revenues underpinned by a long-term availability-based throughput agreement with Shell and Petronas, the transaction represents an attractive addition to our portfolio and expands our midstream infrastructure activities.”
e deal’s price tag was not disclosed.
Dragon LNG, one of three LNG import plants in the UK, is capable of bringing ashore up to 9bn cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas per year. Commissioned in 2009, it recently underwent a revamp enabling it to re-liquefy gas as well.
UK North Sea gas production slumped 3.1% in 2018 to 40.6 bcm, a er several years of mod- est gains. Meanwhile, the country’s consumption reached 78.9 bcm, marking a slight increase on the previous year. Its LNG imports soared to their highest monthly level in years in March, hitting almost 1.2mn tonnes, amid surplus sup- ply ooding out of the US and Russia and weak demand in Asia.
e UK has another LNG plant in Milford Haven, South Hook, along the Grain LNG terminal in Kent, which is due to undergo an expansion.
Royal Dutch Shell controls the other 50% of Dragon LNG. e Anglo-Dutch major was rumoured to be sounding out potential buyers for its share back in 2016, before apparently deciding against the move.
“We look forward to working with Dragon LNG’s excellent team in continuing to grow and optimise performance of the terminal,” Mellor said.™
Week 27 10•July•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P5