Pearl Energy to invest $350m in Indonesia gas field

Pearl Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Development Company, will invest about $350 million (Dh1.2 billion) in the development of the joint venture Ruby natural gas field in Indonesia in which it holds a 70 per cent stake, Andy Mitchell, Director, Corporate Communications at Mubadala Oil and Gas, told Gulf News Tuesday.

"The field will come on stream in the latter part of 2013.

"It is expected to produce 80 million standard cubic feet of gas per day," Mitchell said.

"It's a profitable development for us and would establish Mubadala as an operator in Indonesia,' he added.

Pearl Energy operates a range of exploration, development and production assets in Southeast Asia.

The development of the Ruby offshore gas field was approved by BPMigas, Indonesia's Upstream Oil and Gas Executive Agency, allowing the project to proceed to the construction and installation stage, Mubadala said in a statement.

Investment

The development phase will involve total investment of approximately $500 million by the field partners Pearl Oil (Sebuku) Limited, Total E&P Sebuku and Inpex South Makassar Ltd. Ruby is located in the Makassar Strait between Kalimantan and the island of Sulawesi, within the Sebuku Production Sharing Contract area.

The block covers 2,345 square kilometres with water depths ranging from 50 to 200 metres.

The offshore development will consist of the drilling of an anticipated four production wells and the installation of two main structures — a wellhead platform, bridge-linked to a production platform.

Gas will be transported to shore via a 14-inch, 312km pipeline and a dedicated receiving terminal, for processing at the Senipah Onshore Gas Plant, operated by Total E&P, Mubadala added.

It will then be delivered to the buyer, PT Pupuk Kalimantan Timur, which operates a nearby fertiliser plant, under the terms of a wider Natural Gas Sales and Purchase Agreement covering the Sebuku and Mahakam PSCs that was also signed this week, said Mubadala.

"Ruby is our first full-field, operated development project in Indonesia, and as such it is an important project for us to have brought to the point of sanction.

"Our efforts will now be directed to working with our contractors to deliver Ruby into production safely and on schedule," said Barry O'Donnell, Regional vice-president of Mubadala Oil and Gas. Source: Gulf News