Indonesia's Upstream Oil and Gas Special Regulatory Task Force (SKK Migas) has approved Spain-based Repsol’s first plan of development (PoD) worth $282 million in the gas-rich Kaliberau field in the Sakakemang block, South Sumatra.

SKK Migas said in a statement on December 30 that the plan, approved on December 29, entailed re-drilling the lucrative KBD-2X well, drilling one new production well and building new infrastructure, including a pipeline to the Grissik central gas plant in the neighbouring Corridor block.

SKK Migas spokeswoman Susana Kurniasih said: “The [company] is expected to immediately execute the plan to start production as soon as possible.”

The field holds an estimated two trillion cubic feet of recoverable resources, according to initial estimates announced in 2019, which crowned it Indonesia’s biggest gas discovery in almost two decades after ExxonMobil’s discovery of the Cepu oil field in Central Java in 2001.

The field plays an important role in realising the government’s ambition of doubling domestic gas production over the decade and building new gas infrastructure such that Indonesia becomes a major Asia Pacific gas exporter by 2030.

The task force expects Kaliberau field to sell 287.70 billion standard cubic feet (bscf) of natural gas and 0.17 million stock tank barrels (mmstb) of condensate throughout its economical lifespan until 2038. The total reserves are estimated at 445.10bscf.

The field’s production rate is expected to peak at 85 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) for natural gas and 34 barrels condensate per day (bcpd).

Susana explained that building the pipeline was part of a bigger plan in “monetising gas fields near existing gas distribution infrastructure to meet domestic gas demand quickly and accurately.

“Experts have said that poor gas infrastructure had limited Indonesia’s gas demand and thus, limited investors’ appetites to explore new gas reserves,” she said.

THE JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK