A drilling rig working on the Madura BD field, offshore Indonesia.
The Madura BD field is located 16km south of the Madura Island. Credit: Arifhidayat.
Husky Oil, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Husky Energy, holds a 40% interest in the Madura BD field. Credit: Starfive.

The Madura BD gas field is located in the Madura Strait production sharing contract (PSC), offshore East Java, Indonesia, approximately 65km east of Surabaya and 16km south of Madura Island. First gas from the field is expected in 2017.

Husky-CNOOC Madura (HCML) is the operator of the PSC. Husky Oil and CNOOC hold a 40% interest each in HCML, while the remaining 20% working interest is held by Samudra Energy, through its affiliate SMS Development.

Madura BD field discovery and background

The Madura Strait PSC, which covers an area of approximately 621,700 acres (2,516km²), currently comprises six discoveries. The field was discovered in 1987, three years following the discovery of the Madura MDA field. The MBH field was discovered in 2011, while the drilling of five exploration wells in 2012 led to the discovery of the MDK, MAC, MAX and MBJ fields.

The initial plan for the development of the Madura BD field, aimed at supplying gas to a proposed independent power plant, was approved by the Indonesian Government in 1995. However, the development was delayed due to the failure to construct the power plant due to economic issues.

The current updated development plan was approved in 2008 by the Indonesian Government and the front-end engineering and design (FEED) studies were completed in 2010. The government further provided the operator a 20-year extension to the PSC in October 2010, which now runs until 2032.

Reserves and production

As of December 2006, the Madura BD field was expected to hold probable reserves of 93 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas and six million barrels of condensate in addition to contingent resources of 422Bcf of natural gas and 17 million barrels of condensate.

Production from the project is estimated to reach between 100 and 110 million metric standard cubic feet a day (MMscfd) of sales gas and 6,000 barrels a day of condensate.

Madura BD field development details

The project involves the drilling of four initial development wells and two slots for future development, installation of a wellhead platform (WHP) at a water depth of 55m, a floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, construction of a gas metering station (GMS) onshore, installation of two flexible risers between the WHP and FPSO and construction of a 60km-long pipeline to export gas to the GMS.

The first steel cutting ceremony for the three-decked WHP was held in April 2014, while the construction of the pipeline infrastructure is in progress. The FPSO supply contract was signed in December 2014 and the facility is expected to start operations by late 2016.

The produced gas will be sold to the contracted buyers whereas the condensate will be shipped to markets in South East Asia by shuttle tankers.

Gas sales agreements for the Indonesian offshore field

Three gas sales agreements were finalised with PT Parna Raya, PT Inti Alasindo Energy and PT Perusahaan Gas Negara Tbk (PGN) in October 2007. The former two will purchase 40MMscfd of gas from the project, while the latter will purchase 20MMscfd of gas, including an additional 10MMscfd of gas on a reasonable efforts basis. The contract period for all three is 20 years, effective from the start of the first gas flow from the project.

Contractors involved with the Madura Strait PSC project

The MYR3.98bn (approximately $1.18bn) contract for the supply of the FPSO was awarded to the joint venture of Bumi Armada Offshore Holdings (BAOHL) and PT Armada Gema Nusantara (PT AGN). The FPSO charter period is for ten years and is extendable by an additional five years.

The WHP is being constructed by the consortium of PT PAL Indonesia (Persero), China Offshore Oil Engineering (COOEC) and PT Widya Engineering Supasi. The engineering activities and safety risk assessment for the WHP were performed by PT Bina Rekacipta Utama (PT BiRU) in 2013.