Anadarko to invest US$50 million in Madura fields

The United States-based Anadarko Indonesia plans to invest about US$50 million to explore six oil fields in the North East Madua III oil block in the northern part of Madura island, East Java.

?Anadarko plans six exploration wells for the Madura block. Four of which, namely Jahe I, Garam I, Kunyit I and Merica I, will be carried out this year,? upstream authority BP Migas spokesperson Amir Hamzah said Friday in Surabaya.

"The other two oil fields would be explored in 2007," said Amir after meeting with East Java Governor Imam Utomo. General Manager of Anadarko Gregory A. Lanham also took part in the meeting.

Amir said that Anadarko would begin the preparation works for the exploration activities such as the construction of platforms and other supporting facilities in May, this year. "In this stage, the company would assess the amount of oil reserves in the fields," he added.

The company hopes to find significant oil reserves in the four fields and could begin production activities between 2009 and 2010. (*)