Masela Block to Require US$10 B of Investment

VIVAnews – The development of Masela Block which is located in the Arafura Sea is expected to boost Indonesia’s LNG production in 2017. 

Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Hatta Rajasa, after meeting the President Director of Shell Indonesia, Darwin Silalahi, revealed that Masela Block still has 12-13 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves. 

Shell owns 30 percent of shares in this block. In addition, 60 percent is owned by Inpex, while the rest is owned by PT Energi Mega Persada.

Hatta explained that the construction and development of Masela Block will need more than US$10 billion of investment with the exchange rate of Rp9,000 per USD. 

“The development of this block will help increase the LNG capacity by 2.5 million tons per year,” he said on Thursday, June 7. 

Hatta said the Masela Block will start production by late 2017 or early 2018. 

The Masela Block was discovered in 2000 with an area of 3,211 sqm at the depths of between 300 meters and 1,000 meters. 

The block has huge gas potential at between 12 trillion and 13 trillion cubic feet for 30 years production, making Masela the second largest gas field after Mahakam.