Producing EOR Surfactant, Balitbang ESDM Builds Cooperation with Petrokimia Gresik and IPB University

MINISTRY OF ENERGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES

REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA

PRESS RELEASE

NUMBER: 238.Pers/04/SJI/2020

Date: 11 July 2020

Producing EOR Surfactant, Balitbang ESDM Builds Cooperation with Petrokimia Gresik and IPB University

Ministry of EMR through its Energy and Mineral Resources Research and Development Agency (Balitbang ESDM) builds a strategic research cooperation on the development and production of surfactants for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) with PT Petrokimia Gresik and the Surfactant and Bioenergy Research Center of the Institut Pertanian Bogor (SBRC IPB).

"This strategic research cooperation will be carried out immediately. The technical team will discuss the details as soon as possible," said Head of Balitbang ESDM Dadan Kusdiana when receiving representatives of PT Petrokimia Gresik, SBRC IPB, and the Indonesian Oil and Gas Community in Jakarta (9/7).

Coordinator of Research and Development Executing Group (KP3) of Exploitation Technologies of PPPTMGB "LEMIGAS", Usman Pasarai, explained that PPPTMGB "LEMIGAS" has long developed EOR surfactants in an effort to increase well production. This method reduces interfacial tension between water and oil. Oil trapped in rocks is released after it is pushed by surfactants that meet EOR criteria. When oil is released from rocks and forms micro-emulsion, it can be easily produced and separated from water when it is on ground level.

Usman continued to explain that PPPTMGB "LEMIGAS" is carrying out a research on the injection of EOR chemicals for Jirak Field of Pertamina EP. The researchers of the Exploitation Technologies KP3 have continued to conduct the performance test of the EOR chemicals in increasing oil production at laboratory scale to ensure EOR implementation on field runs well. Besides surfactant synthesis facility and EOR test facility, the PPPTMGB "LEMIGAS" also has supporting laboratory for rock, oil, and water formation analysis of the target field.

According to the Indonesia's Oil Proven Data (2015), Indonesia's oil reserves that can potentially be extracted by EOR reach 4.6 billion of Stock Tank Barrels (STB). Therefore, Usman is optimistic that EOR implementation will add the national oil reserves and production.

One of the success stories of EOR steam flooding was achieved at Duri field in Riau Province. The field started its operation in 1954 and had peak production of 65 MBOPD in 1964. After that, production has dropped significantly.

After 18 years of preparation, the Duri Steam Flood Project (DSF) successfully implemented the EOR method to increase production capacity. Since 1985, production had skyrocketed and reached a peak of 296 million barrels in 1995. Production has then dropped and is currently less than 100 MBOPD.

Meanwhile, PT Petrokimia Gresik's Production Director I Ketut Rusnaya explained that PT Petrokimia Gresik has sulphuric acid production unit with a capacity of 2 x 1,800 TPD, as a source of SO3 gas for surfactant raw material. The company has been cooperating with the SBRC IPB on a mini plant test as surfactant manufacture plant since March 2020. PT Petrokimia Gresik supplies SO3 gas from the sulphuric acid plant and buys the raw material for methyl ester produced by SBRC IPB in Gunung Putri, Bogor. Rusnaya has targeted to build a large scale surfactant plant which can be built in synergy with the Balitbang ESDM.

"This cooperation is aimed as an effort to diversify products and to increase the utilization of the sulphuric acid unit ", continued Rusnaya.

Rusnaya is supported by surfactant and bioenergy expert of the SBRC IPB, Erliza Hambali, who has operated the surfactant mini plant for EOR/IOR in Gunung Putri, Bogor, since 2018/2019. The mini plant has a production capacity of 1-3 tonnes/day and produces surfactants with IFT <= 10-3 dyne/cm. The surfactant mini plant needs continuous SO3 gas supply. Erliza hopes the cooperation can produce surfactants that are accepted by the market.

Meanwhile, Head of the Indonesian Oil and Gas Community Herry Putranto said that based on SKK Migas' data, 1.3 billion STB of oil can be extracted by using the EOR method. Plans have been made to optimize 37 oil fields by EOR. To realize this project, a huge amount of EOR surfactants will be needed in Indonesia, and thus, the market is potential for development.

Indeed, the export market for EOR surfactants is strong, because there are only a few EOR surfactant producers in the world. The world's leading producers are limited to six large companies, among others, Sasol, Solvay, and Shell. There are only a handful of overseas laboratory providers, too, with eight companies doing this business. Therefore, Herry hopes PPPTMGB "LEMIGAS" can use this opportunity well. (IY)

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