Page 7 - AsianOil Week 35 2021

AsianOil SOUTHEAST ASIA AsianOil

Pertamina wins regulatory approval

for Gajah Besar development

PROJECTS & INDONESIA’S state-owned Pertamina has upstream operations, SKK Migas is striving to
COMPANIES secured regulatory approval for its plan of devel- help bring as many upstream projects to fruition
opment (PoD) for the Gajah Besar natural gas as quickly as possible given the government’s
and condensate field onshore South Sumatra. 2030 production target of 1mn bpd of oil and 12
SKK Migas planning deputy Benny Lubian- bcf (339.84 mcm) per day of gas.
tara said in an August 29 statement that Pertam- The regulator’s operations deputy, Julius
ina EP intended to invest $15.5mn in drilling Wiratno, inaugurated the West Betara (WB) gas
three development wells, reworking another well compression and condensate pumping station at
and constructing pipeline from producing wells the Jabung Block on August 26.
to the Paku Gajah compression system. State-run PetroChina, which operates Jabung
The PoD approval came less than three weeks via local arm PetroChina International Jabung,
after Pertamina EP submitted its development developed the station to maintain gas produc-
application on August 10, with Lubiantara not- tion from both the WB and South Betara (SB)
ing that the regulator was looking to rapidly turn fields at around 30 mmcf (849,600 cubic metres)
around upstream submissions to help speed up per day.
operations. Commenting on the project’s progress,
“We do this effort with the hope that [con- Wiratno highlight the importance of its comple-
tractors] will also immediately realise activities tion amid the ongoing challenges posed by the
in the field, so that the resulting production can pandemic.
be used to support increased production in the He added: “We are optimistic, even though
coming years,” Lubiantara said. there are still pandemic constraints, the target
Pertamina EP’s PoD envisions producing of 12 onstream projects in 2021 will be realised.
15.52bn cubic feet (439.53mn cubic metres) of The successful completion of all project targets
gas and 100,500 barrels of condensate over a in 2021 will support the achievement of the pro-
nine-year period, with first hydrocarbons slated duction target of 1mn bpd and 12 bcf per day
to flow from 2022. in 2030.”
The official added: “We expect the project The station, which came online on August
to be on stream in the first quarter of 2022. In 18, was delayed by more than a month from its
the early stages, gas production is estimated at original start-up date of July 12, owing to govern-
2.29mn cubic feet [64,850 cubic metres] per ment-imposed movement restrictions.
day, and will gradually increase to 5.29 mmcf PetroChina’s head of block operations, Wang
[149,810 cubic metres] per day. As for conden- Qilin, noted that the station’s completion paved
sate, in the early stages of production it will be the way to bring another four gas wells on stream
around 10 bpd and then it will be gradually from the Baturaja formation, with a production
increased to 23 bpd.” target of 7.5 mmcf (212,400 cubic metres) per
The Gajah Besar approval is one of 16 PoDs day.
SKK Migas has greenlit this year, still signifi- PetroChina’s partners in the block include
cantly short of 37 approvals the upstream regu- Indonesia’s state-owned Pertamina Hulu Energi,
lator hopes to deliver. Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas Carigali and
Despite the ongoing challenges that the GPI Jabung. The Chinese major also operates
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic poses to the Bangko block in Jambi.™

Week 35 02•September•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P7