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Pertamina EP to drill three new wells in East Java
Pertamina EP, the upstream subsidiary of state-owned oil and gas giant Pertamina, is preparing to drill three new wells in East Java in the second half of this year at a cost of US$21 to $23 million
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P
ertamina EP, the upstream subsidiary of state-owned oil and gas giant Pertamina, is preparing to drill three new wells in East Java in the second half of this year at a cost of US$21 to $23 million.
The company will drill an offshore well in the Poleng field in August with an estimated investment of $15 million. It will also drill the fourth and fifth wells of the Tapen field in September and October, respectively, each with an investment of around $3 to $4 million.
“The cost for the one in the Poleng field is bigger because it is located offshore,” Pertamina EP public relations manager Muhammad Baron told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
“We need to be more prepared because this is the first time for us to undertake offshore drilling activities.”
The drilling activities at each of the three wells are expected to be complete within 45 days so that they can bear fruit before year-end.
The offshore well in the Poleng field is expected to produce 700 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and 1.2 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd). Moreover, the fourth well of the Tapen field is estimated to produce 250 bopd, while the fifth well could yield 200 bopd and 2 mmscfd of gas.
The Poleng and Tapen fields are located in Pertamina EP’s Asset 4 areas, which cover East Java, Central Java, Sulawesi and Papua.
However, the company is pinning high hopes specifically on the Poleng field, which produced an average of 2,858 bopd throughout last year. The production rate is expected to reach 3,088 bopd in 2017.
Furthermore, there is also the Jambaran-Tiung Biru (JTB) gas field in Central Java, which is also included in the Asset 4 areas.
The JTB field is located within the Cepu block, which is jointly owned and operated by several parties, including subsidiary PT Pertamina EP Cepu (PEPC), local government-owned enterprises, and two local units of American oil producer ExxonMobil, namely ExxonMobil Cepu Ltd. (EMCL) and Ampolex Cepu PET Ltd.
PEPC, which aspires to fully acquire the JTB field, has found it difficult to seal the deal
because of prolonged deadlock with state-owned electricity firm PLN over the price of gas sold to the latter.
PLN is only willing to pay $7 per million British thermal unit (mmbtu) for the gas at its plant gate in Gresik, while PEPC wants the price of $7 per mmbtu at its wellhead in the JTB field.
As a result, PEPC has not been able to kick off construction of its production facilities at the JTB field, which was initially slated to be on stream in 2020 and is expected to produce at least 172 mmscfd.
“We’ll conduct an audit to see whether the development cost can be reduced, including in the procurement of its production facilities,” Fatar Yani Abdurrahman, the deputy for operational control at the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas), said recently. In total, Pertamina EP aims to undertake development drilling activities at 48 wells in 2017.
