Eni makes another deepwater gas find, Geliga-1, in Indonesia’s Kutei Basin

Eni has made a large gas-condensate discovery in the Kutei Basin offshore Indonesia.

The Geliga‑1 exploration well, drilled in 2,000 m of water on the Ganal Block, 70 km offshore East Kalimantan coast, appears to contain 5 Tcf of gas and 300 MMbbl in the targeted Miocene interval, based on current analysis.

Geliga‑1 was drilled to a TD of about 5,100 m. Eni and partner Sinopec plan a DST to further assess the productivity of the reservoir. 

The location is close to last December’s successful Konta-1 well and 20 km north of Eni’s giant Geng North discovery of late 2023. Over the past six months, the company has now drilled five productive exploration wells within the Kutei Basin, with one more well planned later this year and two others in 2027.

Last year Eni and its partners took FIDs on the Gendalo and Gandang gas project (South Hub), and Geng North and Gehem (North Hub).

The North Hub project will feature a newbuild FPSO handling 1 Bcf/d of gas and 90,000 bbl/d of condensate, with gas production directed to the Bontang LNG Plant.

Analyses are already underway on fast-track development options that would tie Geliga-1 and the undeveloped Gula gas field (2 Tcf plus 75 MMbbl of condensate in place) to existing and planned infrastructure.

Potentially, Geliga and Gula combined could deliver 1 Bcf/d of gas and 80,000 bbl/d of condensate, sufficient for a third production hub in the basin.

Also under evaluation is adding liquefaction capacity at Bontang to extend the plant’s operational life.

Searah, the 50:50 entity established last November by Eni and Petronas, would operate these various developments subject to closure of the agreement, now expected by mid-year. Eni is also working on a farm-out of 10% of its Indonesia portfolio that was not part of the Searah transaction to a third party.