DIGIVESTASI - A total of 4.68 billion barrels of oil and gas reserves have been discovered in Aceh. The discovery of large oil and gas reserves will surpass Saudi Arabia. The exact location is at the Layaran-1 South Andaman exploration well. This location is about 100 km from the coast of North Sumatra, Indonesia.  

This block was auctioned in 2018, and the management contract was signed in February 2019 under the gross distribution tax system. This was welcomed by the Aceh People's Representative Council (DPRA). If the results are successfully found and used wisely, it is believed that it can make the people of Aceh poorer.

"If successful, it is hoped that we (Aceh) will no longer be poor," said DPRA Chairman Teuku Raja Kemangan, Friday (December 29, 2023). He explained, based on the data he obtained, oil and gas reserves are estimated to reach 4.685 billion barrels. Larger than Saudi Arabia's 267 billion barrels.

Not only Saudi Arabia, the oil and gas reserves found in Aceh are also greater than Venezuela, which is only 303 billion barrels. Even though the country is currently the country with the largest oil and gas reserves. This finding was confirmed by the Head of Procedures and Communication of SKK Migas Sumbagut, Yanin Kholison. He said the discovery of new potential oil and gas reserves occurred in the Andaman II block, about 150 nautical miles offshore. 

Mohammad Kemal, an environmental expert at SKK Migas, said the discovery of oil and gas reserves in the area attracted international attention. "In the long term, after 2028, we will see exploration potential, the biggest of course is Andaman Integrated. There are several WKs where the Timpan 2 discovery yesterday attracted a lot of attention from geologists, who estimated that a large discovery could be found there," Mohammad Kemal explained.

"It can be said that the cumulative total resources in the Andaman region amount to 4.68 billion barrels of oil equivalent, discoveries of 260 million barrels of oil equivalent, prospects of 1.97 billion barrels of oil equivalent, and lead equivalent of 2.63 billion barrels," he said. .