A greater volume of confirmed natural gas reserves has prompted INPEX Corp. to submit a revised development plan for the Abadi gas field in Indonesia’s Arafura Sea.

The plan, submitted to the Indonesian Special Task Force for Upstream Oil and Gas Business Activities (SKK Migas), calls for use of a larger floater than originally planned.

In a news release, INPEX said the revised plan includes a floating LNG (FLNG) plant with an annual LNG processing capacity of 7.5 million tons. That is three times the annual LNG processing capacity that was initially envisioned for the first stage of development for the project, which pulls gas from the Abadi Field in the Masela Block.

The change comes after INPEX, through its subsidiary INPEX Masela Ltd. working with partner Shell, conducted FEED work for both subsea, umbilicals, risers and flowlines and the FLNG plant between November 2012 and November 2014, INPEX said in the release.

“Based on evaluations of three appraisal wells drilled between June 2013 and April 2014 (the drilling campaign), INPEX confirmed the presence of a greater volume of Abadi gas reserves, which was certified by Indonesian authorities,” the company said in the release. “In parallel with subsurface evaluations after the drilling campaign, INPEX also conducted studies to assess the optimal development scenario taking into account the updated Abadi gas reserves.”

These studies included a large scale FLNG technology study, pre-FEED, where INPEX confirmed the technical developments and improvements in larger scale FLNG made in recent years, the release said.

Given the findings, INPEX said it reviewed the initial plan and determined, when taking into account technical and economic evaluation, that a 7.5 million ton-class FLNG was the optimal solution.

The revised plan awaits approval by the Indonesian government.