Indonesia signs 5 oil contracts with foreign firms http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-09-22T055911Z_01_JAK48967_RTRIDST_0_ENERGY-INDONESIA-EXPLORATION.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna
Fri Sep 22, 2006
JAKARTA, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Indonesia signed five production sharing contracts with foreign oil firms on Friday in a bid to boost production, Mines and Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Friday.
Indonesia, OPEC's second-smallest member in production terms, is struggling to maintain output as the country has failed to tap new oilfields fast enough.
A new contract with Exxon Mobil (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) covers 5,339 sq km of the offshore Surumana block in Makassar Straits, while a contract with ConocoPhillips (COP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) cover 9,649 sq km in the Amborip VI block in the Arafura Sea.
Indonesia also signed a contract with Malaysia's Petronas [PETR.UL] for 4,139 sq km of the offshore Lampung II block in the southern part of Sumatra and Canada's Husky Energy (HSE.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) for 4,254 sq km of offshore East Bawean II in East Java.
The government also signed a contract with U.S. firm Marathon Oil Corp (MRO.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Calgary-based Talisman Energy Inc. (TLM.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) for 4,707 sq km of offshore Pasang Kayu in the Makassar Straits. Marathon and Talisman are partners for the Pasang Kayu block.
"Oil exploration is highly capital intensive and high risk. I do hope with this contract signing today ... we are able to increase our oil production," Purnomo said in speech after the signing.
Officials say Indonesia still has around 4.1 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and about 4.5 billion potential reserves.
Indonesia pumped 860,500 barrels per day (bpd) in August, down from 887,000 bpd of crude in July, the lowest in three and a half decades.
Condensate production eased to 124,000 bpd in August, down from 131,000 bpd in July.
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