Italian oil and gas major Eni has reported a new gas discovery in Indonesia’s offshore East Sepinggan block through the drilling of the Merakes East prospect.
Image: Eni announces gas discovery at Merakes East prospect. Photo: courtesy of QR9iudjz0/Freeimages.com.
The exploratory well at the Merakes East prospect was drilled to a depth of 3,400m in water depth of 1,592m at which it intersected 15m of gas bearing net sands in two distinct levels of Miocene Age, said Eni.
Located offshore the Kalimantan province, the prospect is 33km away from the Italian firm’s operated Jangkrik field in the south east direction and only 3km east of the Merakes field.
Eni, in a statement, said: “The production test, which was limited by surface facilities, recorded an excellent gas deliverability of the reservoir, and allowed to collect all the necessary data to perform all the studies required for the submission of a field development plan for the commercial exploitation of this new discovery.”
The oil and gas giant revealed that analysis of test data proved that in production configuration, the well could deliver 70 mmscfd of gas and 1000 bbld of associated condensates.
Eni expects that the proximity of the Merakes East gas discovery to the Merakes field will enable it to lower costs and time of the execution of the potential subsea development.
Further, the location of the new gas discovery near the Merakes field will maximize the synergies among the subsea infrastructures, said the Italian company.
Earlier this week, the Indonesian government approved the company’s investment plan for the Merakes development project. As a result, Eni decided to move ahead with the development of the Merakes field located in the Kutei Basin in Makassar Strait.
The development plan for Merakes field calls for the drilling and construction of six subsea wells in 1,500m water depth. The project will also include construction and installation of subsea systems and pipelines to connect the Merakes field to the Jangkrik Floating Production Unit (FPU), installed 35kms away from it at the Jangkrik field.
Eni had been producing gas from the Jangkrik development project since May 2017.