All Arun gas fields now in full operation

All Arun gas fields now in full operation

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

All of the Arun gas fields in the troubled province of Aceh operated by American oil and gas firm ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia Inc. have resumed full operation following the reopening of the Pase field on Monday evening.

"The last field, Pase, resumed operation on Monday evening at 6.30 p.m. with gas production at 25 million cubic feet per day (mcfd).

"On Tuesday, we expect production to increase to 50 mcfd and we will gradually increase Pase field's output similar to its previous production of 100 mcfd," the spokesman for state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina's production sharing management directorate, Sidick Nitikusuma told the Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

At present, ExxonMobil was producing a total 1.506 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of gas from Arun and other fields, he added.

Prior to the Arun closure in March last year, ExxonMobil produced 1.6 bcfd of gas and 30,000 barrels of condensate per day.

ExxonMobil shut down its Arun gas fields in mid-March last year on security fears arising from the enduring armed conflict between local rebels and the government's police and military.

The company reopened several of Arun's gas fields in mid-July, and gas production from the fields has since continuously increased.

The resumption of Arun operations has enabled the nearby liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer PT Arun NGL Co. to recommence LNG production last August and resume exports to South Korea and Japan.

ExxonMobil supplies about 90 percent of its gas production to the Arun LNG plant and the remaining 10 percent to fertilizer firms PT Pupuk Iskandar Muda and PT ASEAN Aceh Fertilizer (AAF), as well as pulp firm PT Kertas Kraft Aceh.