Eni made an “important” gas discovery in the Merakes exploration prospect, located in the East Sepinggan Block, offshore Indonesia.
The East Sepinggan block is located in the offshore East Kalimantan (Borneo), 170km south of the Bontang LNG plant and 35km from the offshore Eni-operated Jangkrik field.
The discovery was made at the Merakes 1 well, that was drilled at 1372m water depth and reached a total depth of 2640m. Eni says the Merakes 1 encountered a significant accumulation of gas in the lower Pliocene clastic sequence, crossing a hydrocarbon column of 60m in high quality sandstones.
Preliminary estimates for Merakes are estimated to be 1.3Tcf of gas in place. Eni says the finding has further upside that will be assessed with a delineation campaign.
"This new success further implements the company’s growth strategy in the Pacific basin where, in addition to its presence in Indonesia, Australia and China, Eni recently signed new exploration contracts in Vietnam, Myanmar and China,” says Claudio Descalzi, Eni CEO. “The Merakes finding is a significant one as it strengthens our position as operator in Indonesia.”
Descalzi went on to say that the proximity of Merakes to the Jangkrik field, which is currently under development, could supply additional gas volumes to the Bontang LNG plant in the future.
Merakes is Eni’s first exploration well drilled in the East Sepinggan block. The company was assigned Merakes in 2012 following an international bid round.
Eni is the operator of the East Sepinggan block with a 100% interest.
Eni has been operating in Indonesia since 2001. The company holds working interests in 14 permits and is operator in 10 of the permits. Exploration activities are located in the Tarakan and Kutei basins, offshore Kalimantan, north of Sumatra, West Timor and West Papua.
Earlier this month, Eni and Korea Gas Corp. (Kogas) signed a cooperation agreement that will allow the two companies to jointly pursue global opportunities in a number of areas including the upstream and LNG sectors in Africa.
Map from Eni.
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