Caltex cuts oil output at CPP block

Oil and gas company PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia had cut oil output at the Coastal Plains Pekanbaru block in Riau following uncertainties over the future ownership of the block, state oil and gas company Pertamina said on Monday.

Pertamina's president Baihaki Hakim said he had been informed that Caltex had cut investment on the oil block that led to the decrease in its output to about 50,000 barrels per day.

Caltex spokesman Renville Almatsier admitted that Caltex had cut "long term" investment on the oil block amid uncertainties over the future ownership of the block, but he denied that the block's oil output had dropped to about 50,000 barrels per day.

He said the block's output today remained normal at between 60,000 and 66,000 barrels per day.

Pertamina and Caltex - joint venture of American oil firms Chevron and Texaco - have been ordered by the previous government to set up a joint venture to continue developing the oil block after the contract of Caltex on the block expires in 2001.

Amid the negotiations on the share ownership in the joint venture, President Abdurrahman Wahid said last month that the Riau provincial administration had the right to take over the management of the block.

Wahid's move aimed at appeasing the province's anger at the central government's control over the natural resources in the province. (*)