Ambon (ANTARA) - The Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Task Force (SKK Migas) and Cooperation Contract Contractor (KKKS) Citic Seram Energy unveiled that they had discovered a new reserve of 15.02 million cubic feet of gas on Seram Island in Maluku Province.

"So we conduct a re-test and evaluate the hydrocarbon potential in the carbonate rocks of the Manusela formation," the task force's Head of Drilling and Well Treatment Division Surya Widyantoro said in a statement that ANTARA received here Sunday.

The new reserve of gas was discovered in the Lofin-2 (re-entry) exploration well of Seti Village in North East Seram Subdistrict, Seti, Central Maluku District, he said.

After retesting the lining test of the Lofin-2 exploration well (re-entry), which has the main objective in carbonate rocks of the Manusela formation, a gas flow of 15.02 million cubic feet per day or MMSCFD was found in the non-choke 64/64 inches, he said.

Re-testing the exploration well lining test is aimed to determine the character or behavior of the reservoir for future development of the Lofin structure.

Currently, a joint team of personnel of the SKK Migas and Citic Seram Energy have been working on the ground to monitor and test the strength of the hydrocarbon bursts.

"Flaring during the well testing has been carried out and the gas burst is quite good," Widyantoro said.

The discovery of gas on Seram Island has experienced considerable challenges in the operational testing of exploratory wells and taken much time because they are located in a remote area.

"Especially for mobilizing drilling equipment and materials, wells with relatively deep depths and high reservoir pressure," Widyantoro explained.

Meanwhile, acting Head of the SKK Migas' Program and Communication Division Mohammad Kemal said the discovery of gas reserves on Seram Island has brought a hope for the task force and its KKKS contractors to continue their massive, aggressive, and efficient explorations.

Kemal added that the potential for oil reserves on Seram Island remains quite large and predicted to reach at least five billion barrels.

"We have potential oil reserves on Seram Island and Warim Papua, and thank God there are already investors who are interested in looking at the data," he said.

The business activities of SKK Migas are state/government's ones while KKKS contractors only function as operators. They are supervised and controlled by SKK Migas, so they are different from private plantation and mining activities in general.

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Translator: Ode Dedy Lion, Cindy Frishanti Octavia
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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