Eni Finalises Investment in East Kalimantan's Deep-Sea Gas Project, Production Targeted to Begin in 2028
The Italian energy giant Eni has officially made the final investment decision (FID) for the development of a deep-sea gas project off the coast of East Kalimantan. The project encompasses Gendalo–Gandang (South Hub) and Geng North–Gehem (North Hub).
This decision was taken just 18 months after the approval of the Plan of Development (POD) in 2024, marking a significant acceleration in the development of Indonesia’s deep-sea oil and gas projects.
In its development, Eni will utilise deep-sea production technology and existing infrastructure, including the Jangkrik Floating Production Unit (FPU) and optimisation of Train F at the Bontang LNG Plant. This approach is expected to reduce costs while accelerating gas commercialisation.
For the South Hub project, the development of Gendalo and Gandang will take place at depths of 1,000 to 1,800 metres, involving the drilling of seven production wells connected to the Jangkrik facilities.
Meanwhile, the North Hub involves drilling 16 production wells at depths of 1,700 to 2,000 metres, which will be linked to a new floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) facility with a processing capacity of more than 1 billion cubic feet of gas per day and 90,000 barrels of condensate per day.
Overall, the two projects hold resource potential of around 10 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas and 550 million barrels of condensate. Production is targeted to begin in 2028 and reach its peak in 2029 with a capacity of around 2 billion cubic feet of gas per day.
The Head of SKK Migas, Djoko Siswanto, welcomed the investment decision positively. He assessed that this FID serves as a strong signal of global investor confidence in Indonesia’s upstream oil and gas investment climate.
“This decision is an important step to increase national gas production and strengthen Indonesia’s energy resilience,” he stated.
The project investment is estimated to exceed US$15 billion and has the potential to create multiplier effects, including the absorption of thousands of workers.
Additionally, the project will form part of a business cooperation plan between Eni and Petronas to establish a new company (NewCo), targeted to achieve production of more than 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2029.
For information, Eni has been operating in Indonesia since 2001 and is one of the major gas producers in the Kutai Basin and Makassar Strait areas, which are now developing as a strategic national gas production hub.