The Long Way of Exploration for the Tulehu WKP, Maluku

Tulehu WKP is one of the 21 Old WKPs established since Pres.Dec (PD) No. 6/1974 PERTAMINA to develop geothermal until the 90s.

PLN started managing the Tulehu WKP in 1993, exploration in early 1994. In 2009, PLN Geothermal conducted a re-study of the geothermal working area in Tulehu and decided to continue exploration in December 2010 by drilling 1 exploration well TLU-01, despite having encountered problems, the drilling results of TLU-01 confirmed the existence of high-permeability reservoir. Moreover, many data indicated that the reservoir temperature exceeds 200oC from relatively shallow region to deep region (JICA report 2011).

June 2017 PLN started drilling 4 wells carried out by PT Halliburton Logging Services Indonesia, while engineering and drilling supervision activities were carried out by the WestJec-Connusa Energindo Consultant.

Regrettably, until now the drilling has not been successful In 2017 NewQuest Geotechnology conducted Resources Assessment, Drilling Evaluation, and Further Recommendation of Tulehu Geothermal Area (PLN).

Challenged by the results of geothermal exploration in Tulehu, the University of Indonesia Research Grant (2019 & 2020) was applied in this area with the scope of works of Geological Mapping & Lab Analysis, Gravity Survey, MT Survey and Reservoir Simulation, this work was carried out in collaboration with PT NewQuest which is indeed a partner of GRC UI (Geothermal Research Center – University of Indonesia).

Until now, the UI Team and NewQuest Team are still in the field. In this survey, based on previous data, NewQuest opens another option for well targeting later by conducting Geological Mapping & Gravity Survey and MT Survey in the southern part of the prospect area. Good Luck.