Jangkrik FPU to Sail Mar.24, Start Up in May (Update)
Second, third and final paragraphs have been added since this story was first published 10.30am, and 4th para updated.
Eni said March 21 that the Jangkrik floating production unit (FPU) vessel is ready to sail to the Muara Bakau block offshore Indonesia.
Saipem, the Italian leader of the consortium that has built the ship, has since told NGW that it will sail on March 24 and is expected to arrive at its site offshore Kalimantan around April 7. It noted that the FPU's 15,000-ton topside was entirely built in Indonesia.
Connections of the offshore pipeline by TechnipFMC will begin in mid-April and, if all goes to plan, the first molecule of gas will enter the ship system in mid-May to be sent via pipeline to the onshore terminal and thence to the Bontang LNG export complex at Badak.
Eni had told analysts March 1 in London that the Jangkrik gas field is on schedule to start producing in 2H2017, but Saipem now indicates the field could start up in May. Indonesian regulator SKKMigas had said last year that Jangkrik was among four projects that would come online in 2017.
Jangkrik -- which means a 'cricket' in the local language -- will help maintain feedstock for the Bontang LNG export complex.
Eni said this will mean that first gas is expected within three and a half years from the project's sanctioning. A naming ceremony for the Jangkrik FPU was held March 21 at the Saipem Karimun yard, Tanjung Balai Karimun, Indonesia.
It is to operate on the Muara Bakau production sharing contract located in the Kutei Basin, in the Makassar Strait offshore. Eni said: “The FPU will be located in a strategic position that will also allow the prompt development of nearby discoveries in a region rich of gas resources.”
Jangkrik FPU naming ceremony (Credit: Eni)
The newly built FPU has a gas processing and export capacity up to 450mn ft3/d. Ten production deep-water subsea wells will be connected to the FPU. The gas, once processed onboard the FPU, will then reach using a new dedicated 79 km pipeline and new onshore receiving facilities, the East Kalimantan Transportation System and the Bontang gas liquefaction plant.
The Jangkrik gas volumes will supply the local domestic market, Indonesia's own LNG market as well as the global LNG market, providing a significant contribution to the country’s energy needs and economic development, Eni added.
Italy's Eni is the operator with a 55% stake of the Muara Bakau PSC through its affiliate Eni Muara Bakau; the other partners are France's Engie with 33.4% and Saka Energi Muara Bakau with 11.6%.
The FPU project was implemented by a Saipem-led consortium of Hyundai, Chyioda and Tripatra. The FPU is based on a ship design from Hyundai but its topside has been manufactured entirely in Karimun yard in Indonesia. Saipem, Tripatra and Chyioda fulfilled engineering and procurement.
Shardul Sharma