Eni Starts Production at Maha Gas Field offshore Indonesia

SUBSCRIBE SEARCH ARTICLES NEWS Eni and Petronas began production at the Maha field in Indonesia's Kutei Basin, a tieback project that grows the capacity of the Jangkrik Floating Production Unit by up to 250 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas. Image by Teka77 via iStock

Eni SpA and Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) have begun production at the Maha field in Indonesia's Kutei Basin, a tieback project that grows the capacity of the Jangkrik Floating Production Unit (FPU) by up to 250 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscfd) of natural gas.

"Following initial processing onboard the FPU, the gas will be transported through the pipeline network to supply the domestic market and the Bontang liquefaction plant, which supplies LNG to both domestic and export markets", Italy's state-backed Eni said in a press release.

Eni made the final investment decision for Maha nearly two years ago. Maha is now part of Eni's 50:50 joint venture with Malaysian national oil and gas company Petronas, launched last June.

Located in the West Ganal block in waters about 1,000 meters (approximately 3,280 feet) deep, the development comprises two production wells connected to the Jangkrik FPU by around 12 kilometers (about 7.5 miles) of flowlines.

Maha brings "combined production from the Jangkrik FPU and the South Hub to a plateau of 750 MMscfd", Eni added. "The Gendalo and Gendang project's expected start-up and tie-in to the Jangkrik FPU in 2028 will extend this plateau beyond the end of the decade".

South Hub, for which Eni made an FID earlier this year along with the North Hub project, will develop the Gandang and Gendalo fields in the Gandang production sharing contract (PSC). The North Hub meanwhile will develop the Geng North and Gehem fields. Both hubs are now part of the Eni-Petronas joint venture, Searah.

Expected to go online 2028, the projects are designed to add up to two billion standard cubic feet a day (Bscfd) of gas and 90,000 barrels per day of condensate to Eni's production, according to the company's FID announcement on March 18. Eni expects to reach peak production at the new projects in 2029.

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"The Gendalo and Gandang development plan, in water depths ranging from 1,000-1,800 meters, includes the drilling of seven producing wells and the installation of deepwater subsea production systems tied back to Jangkrik FPU", Eni said at the time.

"For the North Hub, the project foresees the drilling of 16 producing wells at water depths between 1,700 and 2,000 meters, and the installation of subsea systems linked to a newly built FPSO capable of processing over one Bscfd of gas and 90,000 bpd of condensate, with a storage capacity of 1.4 million barrels.

"The combined volumes in place for the two projects amount to nearly 10 Tcf [trillion cubic feet] of gas initially in place, with 550 million barrels of associated condensate".

The gas is to be transported via pipeline to a receiving facility feeding an existing pipeline network and the Bontang liquefaction plant. The liquefied natural gas (LNG) produced will be delivered to both the domestic and overseas markets. The condensate will be processed and stored offshore in the FPSO for export via a shuttle tanker, according to Eni.

"The development plan also includes extending the operating life of the Bontang LNG plant by reactivating one of its currently idle liquefaction trains (Train F)", it added.

Recently Eni signed agreements to farm out a 10 percent interest in several blocks in Indonesia under Searah to the Southeast Asian country's PT Pertamina Persero and PT Medco Energi Internasional Tbk.

National energy company Pertamina will obtain 10 percent in the East Sepinggan, North Ganal and Rapak PSCs. "These assets include the producing Merakes and East Merakes gas fields, as well as Geng North-Gehem gas discoveries, which are currently being developed through the North Hub gas project, designated as a National Strategic Project", Eni confirmed October 12.

Pertamina enters North Ganal and Rapak and increases its ownership in East Sepinggan to 25 percent, it said separately.

The divestments to Medco involve the Ganal, East Ganal, West Ganal and Muara Bakau PSCs. "These assets include the producing Jangkrik field; the Maha, Gendalo and Gandang gas projects being executed as part of the South Hub project; and the recently announced Geliga giant gas discovery", Eni said.

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