Mubadala Petroleum, a leading upstream oil and gas exploration and production company,  has commenced production at the Ruby gas field in Indonesia.

A stable flow was established through the export pipeline at the gas field, which is located within the Sebuku Production Sharing Contract (PSC) in the Makassar Strait between the islands of Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

Mubadala and its partners, Total E&O Sebuku and Inpex South Makassar, invested approximately $500 million in building the project’s facilities, which was completed in October.

The gas is being supplied to the buyer, PT Pupuk Kalimantan Timur, for use in a fertiliser plant operating in support of Indonesia’s National Food Security Programme.

Suhail Al Mazrouei, chairman of Mubadala Petroleum, said: “The project represents the single largest energy investment in Indonesia by a UAE company. It is the first project in Mubadala Petroleum’s global portfolio that, as operator, we have taken through the full upstream cycle, from exploration and appraisal, through development and now into production.”

Maurizio La Noce, CEO, said: “Aligning the Ruby project with the priorities of the Indonesian Government by selling gas to a domestic fertilizer plant enabled us to advance the project more efficiently and meaningfully support the growth of the Indonesian economy.”

First gas from Ruby followed a safe and successful hook-up and commissioning phase and parallel operations drilling its four production wells, which commenced with the completion of the installation of the offshore platforms in June. All platform facilities were constructed in Indonesian fabrication yards between September 2011 and March 2013, said a statement.

The topside modules for the tripod wellhead platform (WHP) and the processing and quarters platform (PQP) were constructed in Pendingan and Handil, respectively, and WHP and PQP steel jackets in Batam.  The 312 km-long subsea pipeline that connects the Ruby platform to the dedicated terminal for processing at the Senipah onshore gas plant, operated by Total E&P, was installed at the end of 2012.

Mubadala Petroleum, through its Indonesian affiliate, holds a 70 per cent working interest and is the operator of the Sebuku. Total E&P Sebuku and Inpex South Makassar equally hold the remaining 30 per cent. Approximately 250 billion cu ft (bcf) of gas will be produced for sale to the domestic market over the life of the field. - TradeArabia News Service