29 November 2022 – Pertamina Hulu Kalimantan Timur (PHKT) hosted an event in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, for Indonesian stakeholders and the Korea-Indonesia Offshore Cooperation Center (KIORCC) to wrap up the Pilot Decommissioning Project of offshore platform Attaka-EB.
The Pilot Decommissioning Project in discussion was conducted by both Indonesian and Korean parties in hopes of evoking the decommissioning responsibility of oil and gas operators in Indonesia through a beneficial, green, and cost-effective manner.
PHKT used this opportunity to update the journey and completion of this project. During the discussion following PHKT’s presentation, Indonesian stakeholders were given the opportunity to deliver key points of post-decommissioning work, especially on the administrative procedure and coordination needed to be followed up by government institutions. This was an important moment to note that the decommissioning and re-utilization of platforms have post-work aspects in order to ensure the effectiveness of methods used in the process.
Attaka-EB is a part of a cluster of idle platforms off the coast of Santan in the Attaka field. This field was previously owned and utilized by Chevron and in 2017 was handed over to PHKT. Through the support provided by the Korean government and the engineering and construction services of the KHAN Offshore Consortium, which also includes Rovostech, ZEN, Samin SMT, KOC, JD Engineering , BMI, Ocean Wide, CIIZ, Korea Aquatic Life Institute, and Neo-Max, the decommissioning of this platform was executed safely.
On the 30th of November, invited stakeholders were given the chance to conduct a site survey to the former EB platform, the idle Attaka-UA which has a similar size with EB, and other active and inactive platforms in the Attaka field. The decommissioned Attaka EB was only 1 out of over 100 idle platforms to be decommissioned in Indonesia.
The dismantled EB platform was safely transferred and reefed near the Bontang area to become an artificial coral reef. This Rig-to-Reef method is supported by the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries of the Republic of Indonesia, who will closely monitor the reefed platform for the next three years.
This wrap-up event and site visit marks the end of the first decommissioning project in Indonesia. Lessons learnt from this project will be used for future platform decommissioning and re-utilization projects to come.