Italian supermajor Eni said it has commenced gas production from the deepwater Merakes project, located in the East Sepinggan block in the Makassar Strait, offshore East Kalimantan, Indonesia.

The development sits in approximately 1,500 meters water depth in the Kutei Basin. It consists of five subsea wells with production capacity of 450 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD), equivalent to 85,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOED), tied back to the Eni-operated Jangkrik floating production unit (FPU) 45 kilometers from Merakes field.

Gas is gathered at the subsea manifold and exported 45 kilometers to the Jangkrik FPU where it is processed for export to the onshore receiving facility in Senipah via the existing Jangkrik export pipelines. Merakes gas will be partially sold to the domestic market and will also contribute to the extension of the life of the Bontang liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility, which supplies LNG to both the domestic and export markets.

Eni’s CEO Claudio Descalzi said, “We are really proud of the start-up of Merakes, a project which is synergetic with existing operated facilities and is the result of the fruitful collaboration with our partners and with the Indonesian authorities. Merakes is one of Eni key projects in 2021. It will support the growth of gas production, in line with Eni strategic goals.”

Eni is the operator of East Sepinggan block with an 65% share ownership through its affiliate, Eni East Sepinggan Ltd.; the other partners are Neptune Energy East Sepinggan B.V. with 20% shareand PT Pertamina Hulu Energi with the remaining 15% share. On 11 December 2018, the production sharing contract scheme for the East Sepinggan block was changed into Gross Split PSC to support the efficiency of oil and gas investment in Indonesia.

Neptune Energy’s Managing Director in Indonesia, Eko Lumadyo, said, “We are proud to partner with Eni on this strategic development which will help meet growing domestic energy demand in Indonesia and support the country’s export market.

“Indonesia provides Neptune Energy with strong opportunities for growth and we look forward to building on our relationship with Eni and our partners in the region. We have identified significant exploration potential in our acreage in the Kutei Basin, which offers considerable growth potential through tie-back and standalone developments.”