INDONESIAN GOVERNMENT PUSHING FOR CBM DEVELOPMENT
Director General for Oil and Gas Meeting Investors in February 2009
The Indonesian government is pushing to tap their massive coalbed methane resources, in a move that would at least triple the country’s domestic gas resources. Various officials from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources peg the country’s CBM reserves at 450 TCF, putting it among the world’s biggest with gas worth about $5 billion in today’s prices.
After issuing Ministerial Decree 33 in 2006 to open up CBM exploitation, the ministry is wooing investors, offering private developers a much larger share of the production than they would expect with conventional gas. Just last month the Indonesian government awarded four such production sharing contracts in Kalimantan to a group of mining companies, requiring a total investment of at least US$20 million during the next three years. To further enhance the development of this strategic new sector, Dr. Ing. Evita H. Legowo, Director General for Oil and Gas will meet with investors, operators and technology providers at the Asia CBM Forum to be held next year in Jakarta from February 23 to 25.
The country has much to gain from investment and from other countries’ experience. Paul Balfe, Executive Director at ACIL Tasman, believes CBM “could become a valuable addition to conventional gas resources” and that CBM development would reduce the need to bring in LNG exports, thus keeping gas prices from spiking the way they have lately. A stable gas supply at a stable price would be of immense value to large gas users such as utilities, defusing fuel price risk and increasing reliability of profit.
Coalbed methane is natural gas that can be released from coal seams, avoiding the emission of methane into the atmosphere. Methane is a greenhouse gas considered 23 times as potent as carbon dioxide. With industry leaders such as V. K. Dewangan of the Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Peter Cockcroft of Blue Energy, Andy Lukas from Sydney Gas, and Sammy Hamzah from PT Ephindo, Asia CBM Forum is the premer gathering for those interested in building CBM projects in Asia, particularly India and Indonesia, encouraging partnerships among regulators, investors, operators and technology providers to develop the nascent Asian CBM industry.
If you’d like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview, please call Thomas Bernavil at +65 6506 0964, email thomas.bernavil@
