Caltex?s oil output to drop to 610,000 BPD in 2002

PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia will see its oil production falling to 610,000 barrels per day (BPD) this year from last year?s 640,000 BPD, a visiting top leader of US energy giant Chevron Texaco Corp., the parent company of CPI, said on Wednesday.

Peter J. Robertson, vice chairman of Chevron?s board of commissioners, said the 610,000 BPD covers the period after August when CPI will hand over its Coastal Plain Pekanbaru oil block in Riau to the Riau provincial administration.

Robertson said the drop had been due to technical factors, and not security reasons.

He went on to say that Chevron will invest US$450 million for Caltex to develop various oil producing facilities. The same amount had been invested for the same purpose in 2001, Robertson told reporters after meeting with Vice President Hamzah Haz.

CPI is presently Indonesia?s leading oil producer, and its last year?s production of 640,000 BPD accounted for more than half of the country?s total oil production.

The firm should have ended CPP contract last August, but it was extended for a year to give the Riau administration and state oil and gas firm Pertamina more time to prepare for the take over of the oil block. (Leo)