Abstract

Since acquiring the old Sanga-Sanga and Tarakan Blocks in East Kalimantan in 1992, P.T. Exspan Kalimantan has embarked on a production rehabilitation program with most gratifying results. The production decline going back several years has been arrested within months after acquisition, and since then oil output has been on a modest but consistent increase. Equally significant, Exspan has stemmed to look for new markets for its gas resources, which had not been exploited previously in the absence of attractive market prospects.

This poster describes the various ways used by Exspan to repair and rehabilitate old wells, improve and optimize production facilities, reactivate idle wellbores, and drill infill wells where the need for new drainage points was indicated by reservoir studies. Efforts to bring gas to local markets are highlighted by the start in 1997 of Tarakan feedstock supplies to the Bunyu Methanol Plant. Other prospective gas markets being pursued by Exspan in the area are also briefly reviewed.

The poster concludes that production from old oil fields can be commercially maintained through hard work, creativity, and sound field practices, while relatively small gas resources may be exploited economically when local markets can be identified and/or developed.