© EnQuest 
North Sea operator EnQuest has been granted approval for two Indonesian gas fields under Production Sharing Contracts (PSC).
This follows news that the firm picked up Harbour Energy’s stake in the Chim Sáo and Dua fields, in Vietnam.
The London-listed company has taken over the Gaea and Gaea II, alongside its joint venture partners, in a move that marks its entry into the country.
EnQuest is set to be the operator of the sites, controlling a 40% stake, under a joint venture with the Tangguh Joint Venture, which is made up of BP, CNOOC, ENEOS Xplora, Indonesia Natural Gas Resources Muturi, KG Wiriagar Petroleum and MI Berau, which also owns 40%.
The remaining fifth of the West Papua gas fields is owned by PT Agra Energi Indonesia.
“These blocks present a multi-Tscf [multi-trillion standard cubic feet] unrisked resource potential,” EnQuest said.
© Supplied by EnQuestHowever, Panmure Liberum director and oil and gas research analyst Ashley Kelty, wrote: “The RNS suggests that there is multi-TCF prospectivity across these blocks, but trying to find any actual details eludes us.”
The group behind the duo of assets bid $8,400,000 across both PSCs which has awarded geological and geophysical (G&G) studies and 2D seismic acquisition and processing.
This makes them “exploration plays with light commitments,” according to Kelty.
In a stock market update, the firm wrote: “The announcement marks EnQuest’s entry into Indonesia, a country that offers a broad range of growth opportunities that span the full upstream lifecycle.”
However, it is “too early to tell” how EnQuest’s expansion into the country will impact its overall balance sheet.
“The entry into Indonesia opens up a new geography for EnQuest and builds on the recent move into Vietnam,” Kelty explained.
“This could offer some long term potential, but in terms of the scale of the upside it remains too early to tell.”
At the beginning of the year, EnQuest signed a $84 million deal with Harbour Energy in a move to “grow its international operating footprint”.
At the time, the firm’s chief executive Amjad Bseisu said: “As EnQuest continues to work towards a transformational transaction in the UK North Sea, this agreement underlines our commitment to growth, a disciplined approach to M&A, and deploying capital where we see the most favourable returns.”
