Indonesia Approves Rokan Block Development Plan
Indonesia has approved a development plan for the Rokan block, which involves increasing oil recovery by displacing oil with steam. Reuters reports this.
Let us recall that steam displacement of oil is a method of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) of formations, the most common when displacing high-viscosity oil. The volume of investment is 3.7 trillion rupees (238.71 million US dollars).
The Rokan Block is one of Indonesia’s largest oil and gas blocks, and contains several major fields, including Duri, Minas, Bekasap and Kotabatak, as well as many smaller ones. Mining at the block began in 1951.
Since August 2021, the block has been operated by the Indonesian state-owned company Pertamina. Under the production sharing agreement (PSA), Pertamina will continue production at the block until 2041. Over the 20-year term of the contract, the company’s capital expenditures on Rokan will be approximately $70 billion.
Pertamina received operator rights from the government of the country. Until 2021, the operator was a subsidiary of the American Chevron – PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia (PT CPI), but the contract has expired. Chevron’s offer to extend the contract beyond 2021 was reported to be much lower than Pertamin’s offer. Pertamina planned to start developing the block from fields that Chevron had not previously focused on.
