Indonesia’s national oil company Pertamina has signed an agreement on a joint rig-to-reef pilot project with South Korea’s KHAN covering the Attaka offshore blocks in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Djudjuwanto, a general manager at Pertamina, said in a statement Friday that the signing of this agreement was a continuation of the program following the initiation of this pilot project in July 2019.
He added that this project agreement is a part of the Implementing Arrangement, the legal umbrella between the Government of Indonesia and South Korea, which was signed in March 2022. “This project agreement is a legal umbrella that regulates in more detail the implementation of dismantling oil and gas platforms in the Attaka field, transporting and sinking them near the Bontang conservation area, to become a support structure for coral reef growth, which is commonly called a rig to reef,” said Djudjuwanto.
In July 2021, Energy Voice reported about the emerging strategic relationship between Indonesia and South Korea for decommissioning projects, when Susana Kurniasih, head of communications at SKK Migas, said that the regulator is collaborating with other government institutions and countries on financial, as well as technical, considerations.
There are currently 634 oil and gas platforms offshore Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest hydrocarbon’s producer. Of these, more than 500 are still actively used for upstream operations, while at least 100 platforms are not operating and need to be dismantled.