Indonesia Oil & Gas Fields - Irian Jaya - Arco.

The frontier province of Irian Jaya, where an exploration well can cost up to $40m, has become an important gas zone. Arco has found gas fields in the Wiriagar and Berau Blocks in Bintuni Bay, in the west of Irian Jaya. The most important is Wiriagar Deep, a super-giant with over 13 TCF of gas in a Pre- Tertiary formation which only has 10% CO2, found in 1995. Arco has 80% in Wiriagar Block, with Kanematsu of Japan holding 20%. Arco holds 40% in Berau, with the other partners being Occidental Petroleum (Oxy - 20.86%), Nippon Oil (17.14%) and Kanematsu (12%). The total of gas reserves in the two blocks are said to be almost 20 TCF. Arco and its partners intend to develop them for a major LNG venture in the next decade. In 1997, Arco teamed up with British Gas which found a huge gas field at Vorwata, adjacent to Wiriagar. The two fields are connected. In 1998, Arco took another two blocks off Irian Jaya. KUFPEC of Kuwait, one of the other operators in the west of Irian Jaya, found the Ceram oilfield in 1994 in a Pre-Tertiary formation. The wildcat resulted in a 6,800 b/d flow, the highest of any oil exploration rate in Indonesia during 1993/94. Oxy has discovered the offshore Roabiba field in that part of Indonesia. Santa Fe Energy has a PSA in the Salawati Block on Vogelkop peninsula in Irian Jaya extended in the autumn of 1996 for 20 years. In February 1996 a field was found with the wildcat flowing at 3,500 b/d of oil and 12.5 MCF/day of gas. Now Lasmo is seeking partners for its 4,303 sq km Malagot block which it acquired in 1998, with Pertamina holding 40%.