Italian oil and gas company Eni has successfully discovered gas reserves in the North Ganal Working Area in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, with an initial estimated gas in place of 5 trillion cubic feet (Tcf).

The discovery was announced by the Head of Regional and Far East Eni during a meeting with Dwi Soetjipto, the Head of the Special Task Force for Upstream Oil and Gas Business Activities (SKK Migas).

"We hope that the discovery of gas reserves in North Ganal by one of the international oil companies (IOCs) will encourage more IOCs to enter Indonesia," said Dwi on October 2, 2023.

With an initial estimated discovered resource of approximately 609 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMBOE, recoverable), this discovery at the Geng North-1 well is one of the top three exploration discoveries in the world in 2023.

Dwi added that this discovery is expected to be one of the giant discoveries that will significantly increase gas reserves to support the sustainable increase in the national oil and gas production target for 2030, which aims to reach 1 million barrels of oil per day (bopd) and 12 billion cubic feet per day (Bscfd) of gas production.

This giant discovery is believed to further stimulate massive exploration investments in the future, as Indonesia's oil and gas potential remains promising, with 68 out of 128 basins yet to be explored.

"This is certainly the result of one of the government's efforts to enhance the competitiveness of the upstream oil and gas industry," explained Dwi.

Furthermore, Dwi mentioned that SKK Migas will engage in intensive coordination with Eni for the subsequent stages to expedite the monetization of this giant discovery.

The discovery of these giant gas reserves will be driven to commence production swiftly to increase gas supply to support national development, including gas downstream activities currently being promoted by the government.

"This is also supported by the existing gas infrastructure in East Kalimantan, which is expected to be developed quickly and efficiently," he stated.