Indonesia's natural gas reserves increase

Natural gas reserves in Indonesia have risen by 7.45 trillion standard cubic feet (TCF), thanks to new reserves found in either new sites or existing fields, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has revealed.

The ministry's director of natural gas, Novian M. Thaib, said on Saturday the new findings were discovered during exploration processes in a number of fields across the country.

"With the new findings, gas reserves in the country stand at 188,34 TSCF," Novian told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview.

However, he fell short of providing details as to which fields have additional reserves, saying the data is still being drawn up by the ministry.

Separately, the oil and gas upstream regulatory agency (BP Migas) deputy director Zanial Achmad said that among the revised reserves is the Masela field in Maluku province, currently operated by Japanese company Inpex Corporation.

"It is not a new gas field, but we have found substantial additional reserves other than that which we certified," he said.

In the certification process, it was calculated that the field contained some 6.7 TCF of reserves. However, the amount increased to 10 TCF based on a recent observation.

Although its reserves are still largely untapped due to limited supporting infrastructure, Indonesia is known to have one of the most extensive gas reserves in the world.

And the new findings should confirm that status.

The new findings exclude the one in the Jeruk field, where Australia-based oil and gas company Santos reportedly found a new huge reserve.

BP Migas deputy director Kardaya Warnika said earlier that Santos is currently verifying the findings to determine the exact number of oil and gas reserves in the field.

The three largest natural gas fields in the country are Arun in Aceh, Bontang in East Kalimantan and Tangguh in Papua. -- JP