Abstract

Huffco Indonesia/Pertamina operate two major gas fields in East Kalimantan. The Badak and Nilam gas fields provide an average daily supply of over 1.0 billion SCF to the P.T. Bontang LNG plant and Kaltim Fertilizer plants. The peak demand of the process facilities is in excess of 1.6 billion SCF per day. Expansion of the existing process facilities is planned to increase peak requirements to about 2.0 billion SCF per day by 1989.

In this dynamic environment, field development planning must consider deliverability requirements, reservoir depletion profiles, field plant and pipeline capacities, and field pressure profiles to assure steady gas supplies are maintained and efficient utilization of gas reserves is achieved.

This paper discusses the technical challenges involved in developing gas fields in this environment. It includes the field development techniques employed to minimize drilling requirements by utilizing wellbores for multiple completions, and depletion techniques designed to achieve maximum gas recovery. The role of reservoir simulation in aiding development planning and resource utilization, and potential drilling hazards that can arise, if effective field development is not implemented, are also discussed.