Indonesia's Pertamina, SE Asian partners strike oil

Indonesia's state oil and gas firm Pertamina, along with its Malaysian and Vietnamese counterparts, have discovered oil in an area off Sarawak, Malaysia, a local newspaper reported Wednesday.

The well in the SK-305 block produces 3,072 barrels of oil per day (bpd), reported The Jakarta Post, quoting a Pertamina official.

"We expect the block to produce 25,000 bpd by 2009," said Kun Kurnely, the president director of Pertamina's upstream unit PT Pertamina EP.

Under their tripartite agreement, Pertamina and Vietnam Oil and Gas Corp., or PetroVietnam as it is usually called, will get 30 percent of the output each, while Petroliam Nasional Bhd., from the host country, will get 40 percent.

The partners also will sign a contract with the government to develop the Randugunting block in Indonesia's East Java province by next month at the latest, said Kurnely.

They also jointly own a block in Vietnam.

"We will be the operator in Randugunting," said Kurnely. Pertamina will get 40 percent of output while the other two state oil firms will get 30 percent each.

"We will drill two exploration wells after the contract is signed," said Kurnely.

Kurnely also said that Pertamina EP planned to drill 35 exploration wells and 90 development wells this year in an attempt to raise output.

The company will spend some 4.3 trillion rupiah (460 million U. S. dollars) on the projects, he added.

Pertamina EP was formed officially in September last year to separate the management of Pertamina's upstream and downstream oil industry activities, as required by government regulation.

Source: Xinhua