Indonesia Announces the Discovery of Giant Gas Reserve in East Kalimantan

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), Bahlil Lahadalia, announced the discovery of a giant gas reserve in East Kalimantan. The discovery comes from the Geliga Block, which is currently managed by the company Eni.

Minister Bahlil explained that the Geliga Block has the potential to produce a very large amount of gas energy for the country. He continued, the new working area also contains condensate equivalent to hundreds of millions of barrels of crude oil.

"I announce that Eni has just acquired a new Jumbo Gas working area from the Geliga Block. It produces 5 Trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas and we receive condensate of around 300 million barrels of oil equivalent," he conveyed at a press conference in Jakarta, Monday, April 20, 2026.

Bahlil also explained that by 2028, the peak production that ENI can achieve is 2,000 Million Standard Cubic Feet per Day (MMSCFD), a significant increase compared to its current production of around 600 to 700 MMSCFD. This will continue to be enhanced until 2030, when its production will be developed to 3,000 MMSCFD.

"This (discovery) is giant." Besides gas, we will also find condensate production in 2028, around 90 thousand barrels. And in 2029-2030, it could increase to 150 thousand barrels per day (from the Working Area managed by ENI)," he said.

The minister is optimistic that with the increase in ENI's production, in line with the government's strategy to meet domestic gas needs, and the increase in condensate production, it will also reduce oil imports.

The Geliga well was drilled to a depth of approximately 5,100 meters at a water depth of around 2,000 meters. This discovery extends ENI's record of successful exploration in the Kutai Basin, following the previous discovery of large reserves in Geng North in 2023 and the discovery of the Konta-1 well in 2025.

For its development, the North Hub project will use a new floating facility (Floating Production Storage and Offloading/FPSO). Its capacity reaches 1 billion cubic feet of gas per day (bscfd) and 90,000 barrels of condensate per day (bpd). In addition, this project will also utilize existing facilities, including the Bontang LNG Plant.

In addition to the Geliga Well, Bahlil also reported the discovery before the Geliga Well, namely the Gula Well, which produces around 2 TCF of gas and 75 million barrels of condensate. From these two wells, the initial estimate of the combined resources of Geliga and Gula has the potential to produce an additional 1,000 mmscfd of gas and 90,000 bpd of condensate.