Universitas Gadjah Mada, for some time, successfully gained awards through its students. This time, the Society of Petroleum Engineer (SPE) Team triumphantly won first place in the Petroleum Integrated Days (Petrolida) in 2021 organized by SPE Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS). The representative for the UGM team came from the UGM Faculty of Engineering students that consisted of Ignatius Gerald Tondi Sinaga (Chemical Engineering 2018), Vincentius Adven Brillian (Mechanical Engineering 2019), and Saeful Ghofar Zemianie Putra (Geophysics 2019).
Gerald Tondi Sinaga revealed that this competition had a goal in line with the energy mix planning target for 2025. It is a condition where Indonesia must improve the gas supply as the energy source during the transition phase towards renewable energy. One of the potential projects is developing the gas field development Gendalo in Kutai Basin located in the Selat Makassar.
“The depth of the sea above 1.000 meters is another challenge for this gas field development because it is considered as Indonesia Deepwater Development (IDD). In the competition, the team should think about developing this gas field based on their preferences, strengthened by the argument they put forward in justification, considering technical and economical aspects, as well as the merest impact for the environment,” he said in UGM Campus on Wednesday (14/4).
The theme raised in this competition was the Production Process of Natural Gas to Reach a Smart Oil and Gas Industry Using Advanced Technology. At the first stage of selection, the team must submit their abstract and seek a solution in the form of innovation regarding ‘flow assurance’ or ensure no obstruction of fluid flow occurs, as a challenge for the deep-sea field.
The team who successfully passed abstract selection proceeded to resolve two additional cases to pass the final stage. The first case was developing four wells in the Gendalo gas field and still considering economic and technical aspects, environmental impacts, and innovations that support these three things. The second case was making a publication regarding the safety tools used in the Gendalo field development plan.
“We are a part of the team from UGM Society of Petroleum Engineer (SPE), becoming enthusiastic Boards and Members to participate in the competition from other SPE universities, one of which is ITS SPE. Moreover, we have a high interest in the theme of the study case this time, especially for ‘Smart Oil and Gas Industry’ and ‘Advanced Technology’,” he said.
Additionally, to support their innovation in this competition, they once conducted the selection criteria that were officially quantitative with the method analytical hierarchy process (AHP) supported by validation from the expert and the sensitivity analysis. The innovation intended was the Supersonic Separator and the prospect use of Low Dosage Hydrate Inhibitors in the future.
“Besides, we also conducted multiphase fluid flow simulation with the OLGA app from Schlumberger to assure gas production was accordant with expectations. As a result, the jury was impressed by those three things, ” he said.
Gerald also revealed challenges in this competition. At the abstract selection, it was not a big deal because they still had enough time, resulting in them getting a higher score in this stage. Meanwhile, at the final stage, there were approximately three weeks to resolve both the final cases.
“Still, the last two weeks were the critical times because the final document submission and presentation happened together with the midterm test. Therefore, there were challenges in allocating the time of study and preparing for competition. Despite those all, we feel pleasant because we have offered a solution as a part of the contribution in developing gas production in Indonesia to help Indonesia in the transition phase energy in the future,” he concluded.
Author: Agung Nugroho