POSCO International announced on Feb. 22 that it has obtained the right to explore and operate an offshore natural gas field in Indonesia.
The company secured the right to develop the Bunga Sector through an international tender organized by the Indonesian government. It formed a consortium with PHE, an Indonesian state-run company.
An exploration right is a right to proceed from gas exploration to mine development and production. POSCO International and PHE will each have a 50 percent stake in the mine. POSCO International will hold the operation right.
PHE (Pertamina Hulu Energi) is a subsidiary of Indonesia’s state-run oil and gas corporation Pertamina. It specializes in oil gas exploration and production in Indonesia and overseas.
The Bunga Sector is located in the eastern sea of Java Island, Indonesia. The total area of the mine is 8,500 km², about 14 times the size of Seoul. The water depth is 50 to 500 meters. It is a large exploration area that includes shallow seas to deep seas.
POSCO International conducted a joint investigation with PHE for about a year from 2021 to acquire this exploration right. As a result, it succeeded in discovering a stratum with a high possibility of natural gas in the Bunga Sector. In particular, it has the same characteristics as Pagerungan Gas Field which successfully produced a large amount of natural gas near the Bunga Sector. Therefore, experts say that the Bunga Sector has big development potential.
POSCO International previously hit the jackpot by participating in an offshore gas field project in Myanmar when it was Daewoo International. Currently, it produces an average of 1.4 million cubic meters of gas per day from Shwe Gas Field in Myanmar, which it has a stake in. This is a staggering amount of about 10 percent of the gas consumed annually in Korea.
Recently, POSCO International has entered the gas field development business in Australia, producing and selling natural gas. If the PM524 Sector in Malaysia which it began exploring in 2021 and the Bunga Sector in Indonesia are added to POSCO International’s gas producing areas, POSCO International will be able to boost its business stability and expanding its production scale by securing reserves in more diverse regions.
