Oil majors keen to develop Timor Sea field with Japan's Inpex

A number of major oil companies have expressed their interest to work with Japan's Inpex in developing the Abadi field in the Timor Sea's Masela block in far eastern Indonesia, an industry source said.
"Several companies, including Statoil, ConocoPhillips and Total are interested to seek partnership with Inpex," the source said.

Inpex is currently drilling well-7 and will submit its developmental plans regarding the Masela block to upstream regulator BP Migas, sources said. Indonesia's state-owned oil company Pertamina is also planning to buy a stake in Inpex's Masela block, as part of its efforts to expand the LNG business, the company's vice chairman Iin Arifin Takhyan said in January.
The Masela block is located in Indonesian territory in the Timor Sea some 400 km from Darwin in northern Australia. It is estimated to contain 10 tcf of potential gas reserve, according to Indonesian officials. Inpex has 100 % interest in the block.

Inpex has spent $ 101.1 mm on seismic survey and drilling tests at the block, according to oil and gas directorate general at energy and mines ministry's data. The Japanese company is studying the possibility of building a floating LNG plant at the Masela block, with an estimate capacity of 4 mm tpy.
The Masela block may be able to supply 700,000 mm cfpd to the floating LNG plant, operation deputy chief at BP Migas Dodi Hidayat said last year.

Inpex said that there was a possibility for the company to build two trains of floating LNG plant in Masela block with a capacity of between 4-4.5 mm tpy each.
However, for the first stage the company may build only one train.