With such a huge potential I very much support the acceleration of its exploitation,"Jakarta (ANTARA News) - State-owned oil and gas company Pertamina will be able to add 100 trillion additional cubic feet (TCF) of gas obtained from shale gas sources to its reserves in 2012, a senior Pertamina official said.
"Shale gas is unconventional gas which has a potential four times bigger than conventional gas," Pertamina`s Upstream Director Muhamad Harun said here on Tuesday.
He said Pertamina was continuing to encourage and accelerate the exploitation of shale gas which was one of Pertamina`s additional gas potentials, besides coal bed methane (CBM).
"With such a huge potential I very much support the acceleration of its exploitation," he said.
He admitted that shale gas was a new gas for Pertamina. Like in the United States and Canada, shale gas has become a mainstay production because in the United States, 20 percent CBM and shale gas contributed to the national gas supply.
For this purpose, shale gas exploitation will need a long time. After all, Pertamina is now still at the stage of exploration for a first project which kept shale gas potential.
"Maybe in the coming ten years, Pertamina will begin to enjoy the production results of shale gas exploitation," he said.
In comparison, he explained, if conventional gas is 170 TFC than the shale gas will be 1,000 TCF.
"If we can have 10 percent of the 1,000 TCF, it would be a very big amount if compared with conventional reserves in Natuna which is about 40 TCF," he said.(*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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