IPB Officially Opens Laboratory of Polymers and Surfactants of SBRC
Rector of Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Prof. Herry Suhardiyanto officially opened the Laboratory of Polymers and Surfactants for the Surfactant and Bioenergy Research Center (SBRC) of IPB, Friday (11/11). In his speech he expressed his appreciation to SBRC and Operating Board of Upstream Business of Oil and Gas (BPMIGAS), PT. Pertamina, PT. Indocement Tunggal Tbk. and PT. Bank Mandiri for the official opening of lab, which is very important for the development of research on surfactants and polymers for petroleum. "The opening of this laboratory is the right momentum for stakeholders in the agricultural processing industry and petroleum industry to exchange ideas for a unified vision and direction of technological development related to energy supply in Indonesia," said Rector.
This laboratory has adequate facilities for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The EOR technology that uses a surfactant and polymer, said the Rector, is a new technology that has never been applied to oil wells in Indonesia for the field scale. In fact, in the world very few companies have ever tried it. "This is due to the high cost of surfactant production, the high cost of application and no guarantee of success due to the complexity and specificity of each oil field," said Rector. This condition, however, actually raises challenges for the stakeholders in the field of agro-industry and petroleum to work together to introduce new technologies that are useful not only for Indonesia, but also for the world.
Head of BPMIGAS, R. Priyono added that Indonesia has the most diversity of oil in the world consisting of about 160 types. Each type requires a special expert for a complex analysis. "For such an analysis, BPMIGAS poured research funding of 1.2 million dollars, which is a great deal of funding in terms of rupiah. However, viewed from the petroleum industry, it is a small amount of cost. For comparison, CEVRON alone poured research fund amounting to 107 million dollars to maintain the continuity of oil production," said Priyono.
Further, Priyono said ideally every barrel of oil consumed can be replaced by a barrel of new reserves. "In order to increase oil production with a very limited reserve, one of our efforts is to increase the operation of EOR," said Priyono. In carrying out the development of EOR technology, BPMIGAS involved seven universities including IPB, University of Indonesia, Padajdjaran University, University of Gajah Mada University, Bandung Institute of Technology, and University of Pancasila. Besides technology, this partnership includes social and economic aspects, including the prevention of conflicts in the mining area.
On that occasion, there was also the signing of Agreement on Laboratory Equipment Assistance Grant from PT Bank Mandiri to the head of SBRC IPB, Prof. Erliza Hambali as well as the signing of an inscription by Rector of IPB accompanied by Head of BPMIGAS, representatives of PT. Indocement Tunggal Tbk, PT Bank Mandiri and Secretary of the Institute for Research and Community Service (LPPM) IPB, Dr. Sulistiono. (Mtd)
