West Papua News

Carnival's Seabourn brand has taken delivery of its second purpose-built, ultra-luxury expedition ship, Seabourn Pursuit, during an official handover ceremony at the T. Mariotti shipyard in Genoa, Italy. The "yacht like" small ship is designed and built for remote, diverse environments to PC6 Polar Class standards and includes modern hardware and technology that extend the ship's global deployment and capabilities and allows the line to offer a wide range of expedition activities led by an expert 24-person expedition team of scientists…

Oil major BP is targeting shipping 119 cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its Tangguh project in Indonesia's West Papua province this year, including 22 for the domestic market, a company official said on Wednesday. BP expects to keep the same balance of shipments for export and the domestic market unchanged up to 2020, BP Indonesia country head Dharmawan Samsu told a parliament hearing. After 2020 BP will dedicate roughly one-third of the LNG output from Tangguh to the domestic market, or around 60 cargoes, Samsu said. tonnes of the super-cooled fuel from two LNG trains. An LNG train liquefies natural gas by cooling it to about minus 160 degrees Celsius, which condenses the gas to about 1/600th of its volume for transportation by ship.

Statoil was today awarded new exploration acreage through the Aru Trough I licence offshore Indonesia. The licence covers an area of approximately 8,300 square kilometres, adjacent to Statoil’s existing exploration acreage in the Aru and West Papua IV licences. Statoil will operate the licence with a 100% working interest. “This is a low-cost access into a frontier area with considerable potential where Statoil is already present. This position strengthens the optionality in Statoil’s long-term portfolio and secures potential upsides from our existing exploration acreage,” says Erling Vågnes, Statoil’s senior vice president for exploration in the Eastern hemisphere. Statoil will initially collect seismic data during the first three years of the exploration period.

President Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, roadmap for Indonesia as a maritime power in the Indo-Pacific region, has been lauded by the international community, with several countries offering to cooperate with the government to realize this vision, according to a report in the Jakarta Post. Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Indroyono Susilo revealed that when the President attended the APEC Summit in Beijing and the G-20 Summit in Australia leaders of top countries said they were ready to cooperate with Indonesia in the fields of fisheries and maritime resource development as well as maritime infrastructure development and capacity building. Indonesia is also prioritizing cooperation in the maritime resources and fisheries sectors, he said.

The Indonesian Minister of Energy, Jero Wacik, and Eni’s CEO, Paolo Scaroni, met today in Jakarta to discuss Eni’s activities in the country. During the meeting, Paolo Scaroni updated the Minister of Energy on the progress of ongoing projects, which are considered strategic for both Eni and the Indonesian Republic. In particular, Paolo Scaroni has illustrated the importance of the project Jangkrik Complex, operated by Eni and located in the East Kalimantan deep waters, where production is expected to start less than seven years after the discovery.

In addition to the much anticipated Kalibaru Port that is expected to cost Rp 22.6 trillion (US$2.39 billion) in the first investment phase, Pelindo II will construct new ports in Tanjung Sawuh, Batam; Riau Islands province; and Sorong in West Papua, said president director Richard Joost Lino. “At the end of July, we will sign an agreement with the China Merchant Holding to construct a container terminal and an iron ore trans-shipment terminal in Batam,” Lino said on the sidelines of a logistics discussion with the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin). Pelindo II is set to begin construction of the 4 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) facility next year. Total investment for the Tanjung Sawuh Port is projected to reach Rp 20 trillion, Lino said.

Statoil has farmed in to three offshore exploration licenses in Indonesia, significantly expanding the presence in the country. Statoil will acquire a 40% equity interest in a North Makassar Strait Production Sharing Contract (PSC) and a similar interest in two additional offshore PSCs (West Papua IV and Halmahera-Kofiau). The three production sharing contracts (PSC) will be operated by Niko Resources Ltd. Given exploration success, Statoil has the option to become the operator in the development and production phases.

In the 2nd Indonesian International Bid Round 2010, Eni has been awarded the 100% participation interest and operatorship of Block Arguni I located on and offshore in the West Papua Province, Eastern Indonesia. The Block Arguni I covers an area of 5,386 square km in the Bintuni Basin, a mainly gas prone, prolific hydrocarbon province, with several giant gas discoveries already in production. The deal involves the drilling of 2 wells and the carrying out of 500 km of 2D and 200 square km of 3D seismic surveys during the first 3 years of exploration.