The Tuna Block Super Jumbo gas shares are controlled by Zarubezhneft Rusia

 

    Indonesia's upstream oil and gas authorities no longer have to worry about replacing ZN Asia Ltd, a subsidiary of Russia's Zarubezhneft (ZN). 

As a subsidiary of the Russian state-owned enterprise Zarubezhneft (ZN) currently holds 50% of the participation shares in the Tuna Block. 

The Tuna Block Super Jumbo gas

    The number of foreign investors' Interest in this work area makes the Indonesian government optimistic that it can spur further development.

    The Special Task Force for Upstream Oil and Gas Business Activities (SKK Migas) is optimistic that the process of transferring participation shareholders of ZN Asia Ltd. in The Tuna Block could be completed this year. Because of the potential for large amounts of hydrocarbons in it, it can be produced immediately and put into lifting Indonesia.

Blogger Agus Purnomo in SKK Migas

    The development of the Tuna Block faced obstacles after several European Union countries and the UK imposed sanctions on Russia as a result of geopolitical tensions in Ukraine. In the Tuna Block, ZN Asia Ltd. partnered with Premier Oil Tuna BV which is part of the Harbor Energy Group, a British oil and gas company.

BP

    In the Tuna Block, Premier Oil Tuna BV also holds 50% participating shares, as well as being the operator carrying out exploration and exploitation activities of oil and gas reserves.

    Nanang Abdul Manaf, Deputy Head of SKK Migas said that up to now his company has gathered many companies that stated his interest in replacing ZN Asia Ltd. in the Tuna Block. Several companies that have expressed interest are Petroliam Indonesia Berhad Petronas Malaysia and Mubadala Energy.

    The hope is that the process of transferring ZN Asia Ltd's participation shares will be successful. can be decided immediately so that the development of the work area is estimated to be capable Flowing gas up to 150 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscfd) can be done.

    The polemic that occurred in the Tuna Block made the Harbor Energy project that the final Investment Decision (FID) for its development would take place in 2025. In fact, approval for the first Plan of Development (PoD) for the field was given on December 23, 2022. 

    Zarubezhneft (ZN) received assurance of replacing ZN Asia Ltd. Harbor Energy Chief Executive Officer Linda Z. Cook once emphasized that the company's oil and gas portfolio in Indonesia, including the Tuna Block, is still a priority for corporate investment abroad. 

    This commitment was proven by the company by drilling four exploration wells in the Andaman Sea, another oil and gas working area in Indonesia managed by the company.

    The Indonesian oil and gas authority projects a state revenue of IDR 18.4 trillion from the management of the Tuna Block. This figure is higher than the potential The income that Premier Oil Tuna BV can obtain as a cooperation contract contractor is worth IDR 11.4 trillion.

    The Tuna Block is actually one of the Indonesian Government's hopes for increasing Indonesia's natural gas production. Minister of Energy and Resources Minerals (ESDM) Arifin Tasrif said that gas originating from the working area will be exported to Vietnam in 2026.

    Gas exports to Vietnam are considered more profitable because the geographical location of the Tuna Block is closer to Vietnam, making development possible Undersea pipelines such as the Nord Stream gas pipeline can directly distribute gas to mainland Vietnam.

    In terms of investment, the development of the Tuna Block up to the operational stage is estimated to reach US$ 3.07 billion. The estimate includes investments beyond sunk costs of US$1.05 billion, investments related to operating costs up to the economic limit of US$2.02 billion, and abandonment and site restoration costs (ASR) of US$147.59 million.

    Chairman of the Investment Committee of the Association of Oil and Gas Companies, Moshe Rizal, believes that European Union and British sanctions could have a serious impact on plan Tuna Block development. Premier Oil and ZN Asia Ltd. need to immediately take strategic steps so as not to hinder the continuity of its business in Indonesia.

    Moshe said that the government together with SKK Migas must also immediately provide a way out of the deadlock on cooperation commitments. The reason is that the sanctions imposed by the European Union and the UK have the potential to delay the development of the super jumbo oil and gas field.

    The desire to immediately resolve the problems in the Tuna Block also came from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, which hopes that Premier Oil Tuna BV's partners will be replaced soon.

    Director General of Oil and Gas at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Tutuka Ariadji, said that data regarding the investment potential and details of the Tuna Block had been opened. Several International companies have expressed interest in investing in the Tuna block, but the government still needs to carry out further studies.

    According to him, the replacement of ZN Asia Ltd. in the Tuna Block is very urgent because Premier Oil cannot continue to invest all of its investment in developing the work area itself. After all, it could disrupt the company's cash flow and could go bankrupt.

    The Tuna Block does have a strategic role because it is located in the North Natuna Sea which directly borders Vietnam, a world geopolitical hot spot. In 2021, it was widely reported that the Chinese government was protesting the Indonesian government over oil and gas drilling activities in the sea of Natuna, even though The Jumbo oil and gas block is still Indonesian territory, and mainland China is too far from the Tuna block.

    In fact, in the Tuna Block, 2D and 3D seismic acquisition activities have been carried out, drilling of four exploration wells, namely the Gajali gas well, North Sea-1 gas well, and Belut Laut-1 gas well in 2011, as well as Sea Horse-1 gas well and Sea Lion-1 gas well in 2014.

    The discovery of hydrocarbon reserves in the Kuda Laut-1 and Sea Lion-1 wells, which are structurally adjacent, was later named the Tuna field, with resources of 104 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMBOE).

    These resources are dominated by natural gas reserves with high condensate content, with a CO2 content of less than 2%. Then, in 2021, potential reserves in the Tuna Block were confirmed again through drilling activities for two Delineation wells Sea Lion (SL)-2 and  Sea Horse (KL)-2.

Mubadala Energy discovered the enormous gas potential in the Layaran-1 oil well

 

Blogger Agus Purnomo

    The Andaman region has a charm for oil and natural gas company investors from the United Arab Emirates, Mubadala Energy. Having just discovered large amounts of gas potential in the Layaran-1 oil well, the company is immediately targeting the development of oil wells in Layaran-2 in the hope of getting bigger results.

Blogger Agus Purnomo in SKK Migas

    The Special Task Force for Upstream Oil and Gas Business Activities (SKK Migas) revealed that Mubadala Energy immediately prepared plans for further exploration activities at other prospects in the South Andaman oil block. While waiting for the results of the post-drill evaluation of the Layaran-1 Well, which is located off the coast of Aceh, around 100 kilometers off the coast of northern Sumatra.

Drilling Worker

    Deputy Head of SKK Migas Nanang Abdul Manaf said Mubadala Energy is immediately preparing plans next year to drill the Layaran-2 block oil well and other prospects, such as in the Parang-Parang and Ramba oil blocks.

    The oil rig used for drilling the Layaran-L oil well is currently being moved to the Andaman II oil block so that it can be used by Harbor Energy which is working on the Halwa and Gayo Wells.

    In the Layaran-1 oil well, Mubadala Energy succeeded in discovering a large gas column with a thickness of more than 230 meters in the Oligocene sandstone reservoir. Complete data acquisition, including wireline, caring, sampling, and production test (DST) was carried out.

    The exploration well was successful in flowing excellent quality gas with a capacity of 30 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD). Mubadala Energy reports that the Iayaran-1 oil well has the potential to reach 6 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas-in-place, higher than the potential of the Geng North-1 oil well in the Kutai basin, Kalimantan, and is in the top three in the world.

Drilling Worker

    Mubadala Energy CEO Mansoor Mohammed Al Hamed said that the discovery of potential gas in the Iayaran-1 oil well will bring good commercial opportunities for the company at the current momentum of the energy transition.

    The confirmed new discovery is also Mubadala Energi's second consecutive success in the Andaman oil field, after encouraging results at the Timpan-1 well in the Andaman II block.

    The Ministry of Energy and Resources, Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) is still waiting for the Post-Drilling Study of the South Andaman Block Layaran-1 oil well, which has reportedly succeeded in identifying the gas potential of up to 6 TCF.

    Director of Upstream Oil and Gas Business Development at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Noor Afifin Muhammad, positively assessed the discovery of gas potential in the South Andaman Block carried out by Mubadala Energy.

    Noor said that Mubadala Energy should add the data that is still needed, as well as geological and chemical studies before arriving at the economic calculations of promising projects.

    Founder and advisor of the ReforMiner Institute, Pri Agung Rakhmanto, believes that the government must make it easier and facilitate further exploration efforts for world-class investors so that Mubadala Energy can prove gas reserves from the South Andaman Block.

Pri Agung said that the gas potential announced by Mubadala Energy still had to go through a series of studies and further well drilling to prove it and calculate its economics because it still needed further exploration with several more wells, then well testing, and then certification of the reserves. From this process, it will become more visible what field development and its economics are like.

    Further exploration must be carried out at very large costs and investments. Moreover, the position of the South Andaman Block is offshore at a distance of around 100 kilometers off the coast of northern Sumatra and Mubadala Energy is very experienced in working on offshore projects.

    STJ Budi Santoso, General Chair of the Association of Indonesian Geologists, said that the discovery of gas potential in the Layaran-1 Well brings new hope for gas exploration and development in Indonesia because the Timpan-1 Well and Layaran-1 Well have become play-openers for the Oligocene sandstone play. in this area, especially after the Arun Gas Field in the Special Region of Aceh Province, North Sumatra experienced a very large decline and became a regasification project.

    According to Budi Santoso, Mubadala Energy is still in the early stages of evaluating the size of these resources, and requires appraisal wells, as well as preparation for the development phase, POD, so that a more accurate reserve value can be obtained in the field to then proceed to the production stage.

    Even though it already holds concessions in South Andaman and Andaman I, Mubadala Energy is also reportedly interested in continuing to drill exploration wells in the Andaman III Block, whose ownership was released this year by Repsol Andaman B.V.

    Director General of Oil and Gas at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Tutuka Ariadji, said that Mubadala Energy wanted to try to continue exploration of the Andaman III Block, which was considered unsatisfactory by Repsol.

    Mubadala Energy wants to try exploration because it has its own concept which is very different from the technique used by Repsoll, it has been drilled by Repsol, and the results are not good, but according to Mubadala Energy, the concept is very different.

    Tutuka said Mubadala Energy had only conveyed its commitment to drill one exploration well this year on the block released by Repsol, even though the company does not have participating shares in the gas field.

    Repsol Andaman B.V itself returned the management contract for the Andaman III Block to Indonesia after not extending additional exploration time which ends in June 2023. After withdrawing from the Andaman III Block, Repsol will focus on further developing its other portfolio in the Sakakemang Block, in the Banyuasin area, South Sumatra Province.

    This decision was taken after the initial deep sea drilling of the Rencong-lX Well at the end of last year did not identify any reserves of oil and gas or experience a dry hole. The offshore exploration well is located at a seawater depth of around 1,100 meters at a distance of around 42 kilometers from the North Aceh coastline.

    Drilling Well Rencong-1X is part of the definite commitment that Repsol helped complete in the Andaman III Block last year after the production-sharing contract (PSC)was first signed in November 2009. At that time, the block management shares were given to Talisman Energy Inc., a company from Canada.