Premier Hopes for Gas in New Indonesia Licence

Premier said January 31 that it, Abu Dhabi state-owned Mubadala Petroleum, and Singapore-based Kris Energy have been awarded the Andaman II Licence in the 2017 Indonesian Licence Round. 

The UK independent said that the Andaman II licence is located in the underexplored but proven North Sumatra basin offshore Aceh, western Indonesia.

"Premier has identified numerous prospects and leads which exhibit direct hydrocarbon indicators (DHIs) on the existing 2D seismic data, significantly de-risking a potentially material gas play.  Premier assesses that the overall licence has the potential for significant gas volumes which, in the success case, would be delivered to existing gas consumers in North Sumatra," it noted. It plans to acquire 3D seismic in the initial three year term. Premier will operate the licence with a 40% interest, while Mubadala and Kris will each have 30% interests.

"This award is in line with Premier’s strategy of targeting low commitment high impact exploration in proven hydrocarbon provinces and has the potential to deliver significant organic growth opportunities for our existing Indonesian business in the longer term," said Premier CEO Tony Durrant. 

The Indonesian licence is to the south of the Andaman Islands which belong to India.

Premier said January 11 that one of its gas developments elsewhere offshore Indonesia is due to produce first gas in 2019; it also hopes to develop another Indonesian gas field in 2023 for export to Vietnam.

Meanwhile Japan's Nikkei reported last week that PetroVietnam Gas (PVGas), a natural gas and LNG marketer 95%-owned by the state, is seeking government approval to sell 30% of its stock to a strategic partner by 2020; the newspaper reported that Shell, Total and Tokyo Gas could be bidders.

Andaman II licence, offshore Indonesia (Map credit: Premier Oil)