Tangguh Geotechnics and Geohazards Mitigation Part.1: The big picture

The BP-operated Tangguh LNG project, located in Bintuni Bay, West Papua, Indonesia, is a large, remote multi-TCF gas development. Two LNG trains have been on production since 2009, and the Tangguh Expansion Project will add a third train to exploit gas from smaller surrounding fields, requiring an extensive offshore drilling campaign and related project activities. The shallow overburden is complex, with highly variable soils and a complex distribution of shallow gas. Legacy site-investigation data in Tangguh was acquired in small patches, which are variable in quality, geographically separated and unsuitable for regional geotechnical and geohazard assessments.

To address these issues, a regional shallow survey was acquired in 2016, delivering a high-quality dataset with significant uplift over the small patches of legacy data. Better image quality enables much improved understanding of soil conditions and more reliable correlation of key soil units between geotechnical boreholes for geotechnical engineering studies. High resolution profile images and amplitude fidelity allow more confident shallow gas interpretation and fault mapping for geohazard mitigation. Additionally, the regional shallow survey was acquired under budget and has proven to be very cost effective.