Publications

The Ubadari Field was not included in the original business plan for Tangguh Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) expansion due to limited gas resource estimates and its remote location. However, the team worked courageously, exploring ways to unlock the true potential of this field despite this assumption. In 2015, the vintage seismic dataset was reprocessed using the Full Waveform Inversion (FWI) technique in the velocity model building workflow. The reprocessed data indicated much larger potential resources inside this ‘sleeping’ gas field, leading to an appraisal well proposal. An appraisal well was drilled in early 2019, successfully demonstrating that the lateral extent of the Ubadari Field was larger than originally estimated. The result of the appraisal confirmed that the Ubadari Field is an attractive source of gas to maximize the value of the Tangguh LNG business. The reservoir is thick with good rock quality. A simple development concept with few wells is sufficient to monetize the resource and optimize the Tangguh Expansion Program phase 2. Despite its 70km distance from the Tangguh LNG facility, the new gas volume estimate and production performance prediction has allowed Ubadari Field development to be competitive and eventually replace other Tangguh development options, which had higher development costs. The Ubadari Field plan of development (PoD) was approved in 2021 and will support Indonesia to fulfill its growing energy demand. Successful appraisal of the Ubadari Field has brought new life for exploration activities in the Tangguh western corridor. The projected new infrastructure in the Ubadari area will stimulate and generate more resource options for future growth. The Ubadari Field tremendous success has an important role for a brighter potential of LNG business in Tangguh Area.