Pertamina to drill gas wells in Bojonegoro next year

State-owned oil and gas holding company Pertamina, through its subsidiary Pertamina EP CEPU (PEPC), is set to start drilling natural gas wells in the second half of 2019 at the Jambaran-Tiung Biru (JTB) gas project in Bojonegoro regency, East Java.

ln total, six Wells in the site could produce 192 million metric standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of natural gas - excluding CO2 content - according to the firm’s recent data. PEPC president director Jamsaton Nababan told the media in a recent press briefing that one well could generate around 60 mmscfd, but that figure did not yet exclude CO2 content.

“We will start to drill two out of six wells next July” he said.

Four wells are located in Wellpad Jambaran East and will be drilled starting the third quarter of 2019 until the iirst quarter of 2020, while the remaining wells located in Wellpad Jambaran Central will be drilled starting the second quarter of 2020 until the fourth quarter of the same year Jamsaton added that PEPC had resolved all issues regarding land procurement. 

The site of the JTB project was previously part ofa local village and also land owned by state-owned forestry company Perhutani, while some was privately owned.

“We have settled all issues regarding land permits. The remaining work in terms of land procurement is now only administration issues,” he assured.

   The site of the JTB project, a 98 percent stake of which is owned by PEPC and the remainder by another Pertamina subsidiary PT Pertamina EP spans across four regencies, four Villages and 14 million square meters of land previously owned by Perhutani.

PEPC has set a deadline of the second quarter of 2021 for the project’s full operation, which will be marked by a maiden gas transmission from the field to its buyers.

Jamsaton said that once the field had started to produce gas at 192 mmscfd, 100 mmscfd would be allocated for state electricity firm PLN and the rest for industries in East Java. 

“The gas price from our wells will be set at US$6.70 per million British thermal units [mmbtu] and once it reaches PLN, the price will be $7.60 per mmbtu [because of transmission fees],”he said. 

To fund the project, PEPC has set aside.$1.5 billion, $984 million of which will be allocated for the development of a gas-processing facility (GPF) that will be constructed by a consortium of engineering firms, namely PT Rekayasa Industri and PT Japan Gas Corporation.

The GPF has a total production capacity of 330 mmscfd of gas. However, given the complexity ofthe CO2 content in the field of around 30 percent, the project-will only produce 192 mmscfd of gas. It' was previously reported that the CO2 content from JTB project will be utilized by PEP in its Sukowati field in East Java to boost the units oil production with enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technology called a CO2- Hopding strategy. .

Furthermore, JTB general manager Bob Adibrata said that of the total investment to develop the GPF of $984 million, less than 1 percent of the funds had been utilized. 

"Meanwhile, construction of the GPF has reached 8.31 percent, of the target of 9.14 percent. We are running a bit late mainly in the engineering phase,” he said, adding that the firm was in the process of completing the project’s engineering design.

Bob added that the upcoming rainy season, especially the risk of Hooding, would be a challenge for the project development until the year end. 

Jakarta Post, Page-13, Monday, Nov 12, 2018