PT Pertamina (Persero) announced that the company has identified potential reserves of 724 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMBOE) from a non-conventional oil and gas (MNK) well in the Rokan Working Area (WK Rokan) in Riau.

Deputy President Director of PT Pertamina (Persero) Oki Muraza said the MNK discovery is the company’s largest in the past 10 years.

“(This amount) comes from just one structure, and certainly the MNK potential in Indonesia is far greater (than this discovery in Rokan). This is one of the largest oil and gas discoveries, whether conventional or non-conventional, within the Pertamina Group,” Oki said during a hearing with Commission VI of the House of Representatives (DPR RI) on November 19.

Non-conventional oil and gas wells are hydrocarbon sources found in fine-grained, low-permeability reservoir rocks. These resources lie within a maturity zone that becomes economically viable when produced through horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques. These include shale oil, shale gas, tight sand oil, tight sand gas, coal bed methane, and methane hydrate.

“We are still continuing the exploration. For this MNK discovery, we are collaborating with technology partners from the United States to maximize how the reserves can be extracted to the surface,” Pertamina President Director Simon Aloysius Mantiri said after the meeting.

In Rokan, Pertamina had previously been evaluating two non-conventional wells: Kelok and Gulamo. Simon did not clarify whether the 724 million MMBOE figure includes those two wells.

“That will be updated later,” he said.

Pertamina Hulu Rokan previously declared the Gulamo Det-1 non-conventional well as a confirmed discovery. This was marked by the presence of hydrocarbon samples from initial flow tests following the fracturing process in the Brown Shale formation.

The Gulamo DET-1 well in the Rokan Block, Riau, is Indonesia’s first confirmed non-conventional oil and gas well. “We are increasingly confident in the significant potential for non-conventional oil and gas development in the Rokan Block,” said Executive Vice President of Upstream Business Pertamina Hulu Rokan Andre Wijanarko in a press release on July 19, 2024.

Pertamina Hulu Rokan first drilled the Gulamo DET-1 well, located in Rokan Hilir, in July 2023. The drilling used a 1,500 HP rig, reaching a total depth of 8,559 feet with a vertical exploration well design.

Original article here