Eni has completed a drill stem test at its Geliga-1 gas discovery offshore East Kalimantan, Indonesia, confirming the reservoir’s capacity to deliver up to 60 million standard cubic feet per day of gas.
The Italian energy major said the Geliga-1 well is projected to yield around 200 million cubic feet per day of gas and approximately 10,000 barrels per day of condensate based on the test results.
Located in the Ganal Block within Indonesia’s prolific Kutei Basin, the well sits approximately 70 kilometres from the coast of East Kalimantan in waters around 2,000 metres deep.
Drilling reached a total depth of approximately 5,100 metres, where the well intercepted a significant gas column in the Miocene interval, a zone characterised by favourable petrophysical properties that indicate strong reservoir quality.
The drill stem test results support the preliminary assessment of approximately five trillion cubic feet of gas and 300 million barrels of condensate within the Miocene interval, figures that rank Geliga-1 among the more consequential offshore gas finds in the region in recent years.
Adjacent to Geliga-1 lies the undeveloped Gula gas discovery, estimated to hold around two trillion cubic feet of gas and 75 million barrels of condensate.
When considered together, preliminary evaluations suggest the combined Geliga and Gula fields could support additional production of approximately one billion cubic feet of gas per day and 80,000 barrels per day of condensate, a combined output with significant implications for Indonesia’s gas export capacity.
Eni is now preparing a plan of development for submission to the Indonesian government, with the aim of establishing a third production hub in the Kutei Basin.
The hub would complement the existing Gendalo and Gandang projects, which form the basin’s South Hub, and the Geng North and Gehem fields to the north, with the development model expected to mirror that of the current North Hub project.
Alongside development planning, assessments are underway to expand liquefaction capacity at the Bontang plant.
That expansion could potentially allow the reactivation of two currently non-operational liquefied natural gas trains, offering a ready pathway to monetise the new supply.
The Geliga-1 discovery falls within the Ganal Production Sharing Contract, in which Eni holds an 82 per cent operating stake and Sinopec the remaining 18 per cent.
The block is among 19 held within a portfolio set to be transferred to Searah, a joint venture between Eni and Malaysian national oil company Petronas, with the transaction scheduled for completion by the second quarter of 2026.
Searah is targeting the development of around three billion barrels of oil equivalent in discovered resources across Southeast Asia, drawing on the combined technical and financial capabilities of its two parent companies.
Preparations for that transition are described as progressing smoothly, with no material obstacles anticipated.
In parallel, a separate process to sell a 10 per cent stake in Eni Indonesia to a third-party buyer is advancing, with completion expected during 2026.
The Geliga-1 results are expected to enhance the attractiveness and value of that transaction.
Eni has maintained an upstream presence in Indonesia since 2001.
The company currently produces approximately 90,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day net, drawn primarily from the Jangkrik and Merakes fields, also situated offshore East Kalimantan.
