British supermajor BP and its partners plan to start front-end engineering and design work for the $2 billion next expansion phase at the Tangguh liquefied natural gas project in West Papua, Indonesia.
The FEED work for the Ubadari field development and Vorwata carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) scheme will start in mid-2022, subject to Tangguh partners’ and further SKK Migas’ approval; with an estimated project start-up in 2026 subsequent to the final investment decision.
Indonesia’s upstream regulator SKK Migas earlier this month approved the Plan of Development for the Ubadari field and Vorwata CCUS projects at Tangguh.
The PoD covers the exploitation of a potential further 1.3 trillion cubic feet of gas from the two fields.
The co-venturers on Monday said that development of Ubadari would be fast-tracked as a result of the successful appraisal programme. This field will be exploited via not-normally manned platforms connected to an offshore pipeline to the liquefaction plant.
Meanwhile, the Vorwata CCUS development will see approximately 25 million tonnes of CO2 injected back to the Vorwata reservoir to eliminate carbon venting and provide incremental gas production through enhanced gas recovery.
The CO2 injection will remove up to 90% of the reservoir-associated carbon dioxide, currently representing nearly half of the Tangguh LNG emissions.
Partners in the Tangguh LNG project are operator BP, MI Berau, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, Nippon Oil, KG Berau Petroleum, Indonesia Natural Gas Resources and KG Wiriagar Petroleum.
Tangguh is currently the largest gas producing field in Indonesia with output of 1.4 billion cubic feet per day, delivering feedstock to the two existing 3.8 million tonnes per annum trains.
Production from the offshore fields will be ramped up to 2.1 Bcfd once the delayed Train 3, currently under construction, comes into operation.
Implementing CCUS at the soon-to-be three-train Tangguh liquefaction project will help support Indonesia’s commitment to reduce its carbon emissions by between 29% and 41% by 2030 versus business as usual, as part of the Paris Agreement aimed at tackling climate change.
The unitised Tangguh project comprises six fields including Vorwata, Wiriagar Deep, Roabiba, Ofaweri and Ubadari.
Vorwata is estimated to hold 75% of the total existing gas resources and currently supplies feedstock to trains 1 and 2. It will also deliver part of the volumes to Train 3.
