Masela Block Not Ready, Purbaya Calls Inpex and Pertamina

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa summoned the operator of the Abadi Masela Gas Field, Inpex Corporation Ltd and PT Pertamina (Persero).

"This has been going on for decades, I have heard, until now it has not been done," said Purbaya when opening the Debottlenecking Task Force at the Ministry of Finance, Tuesday, February 24.

On the same occasion, Purbaya also highlighted the gas produced by Masela which can compete in the global market given the high value of investment in this project.

Inpex Masela Project Director, Harrad Blinco said his party had checked the market enthusiasm with several potential gas buyers, and the results were quite good.

"The indication of the price looks okay," said Harrad.

Meanwhile, in terms of gas prices, Harrad admitted that he could not estimate the range of economic gas prices considering the investment needs for the development of the Masela LNG Plant continued to increase year by year.

"It's difficult for us to estimate because we don't have a definite price related to the construction of this facility," he said.

For information, this project has an investment value of 20.9 billion US dollars or Rp. 351 trillion.

Inpex has spent 1.9 billion US dollars on exploration activities.

Meanwhile, the location of this field is located about 160 kilometers off the coast of Yamdena Island in the Arafura Sea with a sea depth of 400-800 meters with gas potential from the Abadi Field is estimated at 6.97 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas.

The Abadi field, which is included in this National Strategic Project, produces 9.5 million metric tons per year (MMTPA) of LNG and 150 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) of pipeline gas, as well as condensate production of 35,000 barrels per day.