January 1, Pertamina Officially Manages Mahakam Block Balikpapan

INDUSTRY.co.id - Jakarta - PT Pertamina (Persero) officially manages the Mahakam Block, Balikpapan, East Kalimantan from January 1, 2018 from the switching of Mahakam Work Area (WK) owned by Total E & P Indonesie.

The process of inaugurating the handover of WK Mahakam management begins with the handover of management of WK Mahakam from TEPI & Inpex to the Government which in this case is represented by Head of SKK Migas Amien Sunaryadi, then submitted to PT Pertamina (Persero) represented by Director Hulu Syamsu Alam.

WK Mahakam in East Kalimantan, based on the written statement received by Antara, has been managed by TEPI & Inpex for 50 years, and after January 1, 2018 entered a new phase managed by Pertamina Hulu Mahakam which is the "grandson" of Pertamina company.

Head of SKK Migas Amien Sunaryadi said in his statement that the management of WK Mahakam as the largest natural gas producer in Indonesia and contributes about 13 percent of national gas production, cannot be separated from the previous operators' hard efforts.

"As a representative of the Government of Indonesia, we would like to acknowledge the contribution and hard work of Total E & P Indonesie as WK Mahakam Contract Contractors and Inpex Indonesia as partners of TEPI All preparation of management arrangements that have been prepared in the last two years to maintain continuity of WK Mahakam operations post December 31, 2017, SKK Migas, Pertamina Hulu Mahakam, and TEPI have been working together to process a smooth transition so that the continuity of operation and production of oil and gas from WK Mahakam," said Amien.

Meanwhile, Upstream Director of Pertamina Syamsu Alam said during the transitional period Pertamina has made various efforts and coordination with all related parties. Pertamina of course see the mandate of Management of WK Mahakam as the task of the state that will be run as well as good according to the main task and function of Pertamina as State Owned Enterprise.

Management is carried out while maintaining the production of WK Mahakam which has passed the peak production of its reservoir in the period 2003-2009, controlling the operating costs and keep putting QHSSE (Quality, Health, Safety, Security and Environment) in operation.

"As a commitment to maintain continuity of operations and production, to date we have completed the drilling of 14 wells and will complete the 15th well in the next few days, targeted from June to December 2017, the transfer of TEPI workers to PHM workers has reached 98.23 percent, adjusting the contract for 530 existing contracts with a third party with a value of 1.27 billion US dollars to maintain continuity of production activities in the Mahakam Block, " said Syamsu Alam.

It is encouraging that Pertamina's drilling effort has been done successfully by reducing the cost of well drilling to 23 percent more efficiently to the budget, recording drilling time faster by 25 percent, obtaining reserve mining potential up to 120 percent and obtaining 115 percent reservoir thickness. All these achievements are a testament to the hard work and good cooperation between workers who continue to work with passion.

Pertamina's full commitment to sustainable production in the work area is also evidenced by a budget disbursed in 2018 of more than 1.7 billion US dollars for exploration, development and production activities.

Based on SKK Migas data, as of November 2017, WK Mahakam produces oil and condensate of 52 thousand barrels of oil per day and 1.360 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. The potential in the Mahakam block is still promising. Proven reserves as of January 1, 2016 of 4.9 TCF of gas, 57 million barrels of oil and 45 million barrels of condensate The management of WK Mahakam by Pertamina makes Pertamina a contributor of more than 30 percent of national oil and gas production by 2018.

The Work Program and Budget Agreement (WP & B) 2018 by SKK Migas targets PHM production of 42.01 thousand barrels of oil per day and 916 mmscf of gas per day. This figure is achieved by drilling development wells of 69 wells, 132 workover wells, 5623 repair wells and POFD 5 oil and gas fields in WK Mahakam.