More than eighty years ago, CALTEX discovered the huge Duri oil field in the Rokan block in Riau, Sumatera. CALTEX was a joint venture of Chevron and Texaco.
Oil was found at a shallow depth of 400 feet when CALTEX began drilling its exploration wells in 1941. However, the exploration drilling was interrupted due to the onset of World War 2.
After the war ended, CALTEX managed to obtain approval from the newly formed government of Indonesia to operate in the Rokan block under a work contract scheme. Eventually, oil production from the Duri field began in February 1954.
The giant Duri field – 10 km wide and 18 km long – is one of the many oil fields discovered in the Rokan block. Minas is another giant oil field discovered in this block.
Oil production peaked at 65,000 BOPD in the 1960s.
Due to the high viscosity of the low-gravity oil, to enhance the production, steam injection was introduced in 1985.
The Duri steam flood project was so successful that it became one of the largest and the best steam floods in the world.
Thanks to the successful steam injection, Duri oil production increased significantly to 185,000 BOPD.
After 30 years of the steam flood, the production had declined to about 50,000 BOPD by 2017.
With more than 2.6 billion barrels of cumulative oil produced, the giant Duri field is still producing today.
Chevron Pacific Indonesia handed over the operatorship of the Duri field and the Rokan block to Pertamina in August 2021.
With Pertamina Hulu Rokan as the new operator, the Duri field and the Rokan block are undergoing a massive expansion.
Pertamina Hulu Rokan has drilled more than 1000 new wells in the Rokan block mostly done in the Duri field to maintain and even increase oil production from the rapidly declining oil fields.
Pertamina built a 17 MWp solar plant in the Duri field in 2022 to meet the electricity needs of the field.
Worked there in 2009, once in a lifetime experience I’ll always be grateful for having.