Shell Offers Enhanced Oil Recovery to Pertamina
Wednesday, 18 November, 2009 | 13:18 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The Royal Dutch Shell has informed plans to offer the enhanced oil recovery technology to Indonesian government to improve its oild productio level following constant decrease of domestic crude oil production and the difficulties of the state oil company, Pertamina to meet the annual production target due to depleting oil reserve.

After the Internationl Energy Week 2009 in Singapore on Tuesday (17/11), the Executive Vice President for Global Business to Business of Sheel Eastern Petroleum Pte Ltd, Tan Chong Meng said “some of Pertamina’s oil wells need the enhanced oil recovery technology. Indonesian oil production starts to decerase and the recovery technology will be very helpful,” while declining to disclose tha target of the offer.

He said the current exploitation result could only hit the normal capacity while the remaining reserve which reports said could constitute about two third of the total actual amount of reserve.

He acknowledged however, that the technology is not cheap but it would cost far below the cost of exploring new wells. Chief Scientist Shell International Ltd Sergio Kapusta said the additional cost to adopt the enhanced oil recovery was about 15 percent higher than the cost of conventional mining.

The system involves gas, chemical, microbial, thermal, and ultrasonic stimulation in drilling process.

RIEKA RAHADIANA