BPMIGAS asked to issue COCP letter for Cepu production

PT Blora Patragas Hulu (BPH), one of the owners of the Cepu block, has asked oil and gas regulatory body BPMIGAS to issue a commencement of commercial production (COCP) letter for the oil block.

BPH's director Christian Prasetya said in Blora on Friday that the issuance of the COCP was needed for the bock?s shareholders to be able to receive their shares from the sales of the oil from the block.

He said that the oil block has begun production with a production rate of about 12,000 barrels per day from the Banyu Urip field located in Bojonegoro regency, East Java. ?The oil has been sold, but the shares from the revenues from the oil sales have not been distributed to companies owning participating interests in the oil block due to the absence of the COCP letter,? he said.

The government named ExxonMobil in March 2006 as the operator of the Cepu oil block. The company and Pertamina have 45 percent stake in the oil block, each. The remaining 10 percent is held by a consortium of local companies comprising of PT BPH, PT Sarana Pembangunan (Central Java), PT Petrogas Wira (East Java) and PT Asri Dharma Sejahtera (Bojonegoro regency).

Christian hoped that BPMIGAS would issue the COCP letter based on the commencement date of the production, not on the date the oil block is able to reach the minimal production target of 20,000 bpd.

He said that the consortium of local companies which partly own the oil block had sent a letter to BPMIGAS asking it to issue COCP letter based on the commencement of the production this year not on the date when the block will achieve its production target. (*)