Chevron in talks to farm out E. Kalimantan E&P assets

US oil major Chevron Corp. is in talks with several companies over possibilities to farm out its E&P assets in East Kalimantan.

?Chevron is still in negotiating process with several companies, I can not disclose any detail at this point,? said Chevron senior official Suwito Anggoro.

Industry sources contacted by Petromindo.Com said that Chevron is in talks with several companies including Amerada Hess, Murphy Oil and Anadarko Petroleum.

Chevron gets holds of its East Kalimantan assets through acquisition of Unocal Corp. last year. Chevron has currently two producing PSCs in East Kalimantan namely East Kalimantan PSC (100 percent) and Makassar Straits PSC (90 percent), where West Seno field, the first Indonesian deepwater oil and gas project.

Apart from producing PSCs, Chevron is also operator of several East Kalimantan exploration-stage PSCs including Rapak PSC (80 percent), Ganal PSC (80 percent), Sesulu PSC (80 percent), Sangkarang PSC (100 percent) and Lompa PSC 100 percent interest. Chevron also has several non-operating interest PSCs including Papalang PSC, Popodi PSC, Muara Bakau PSC, Bukat and Ambalat PSC.

Unocal Corp. had successfully declared several major oil and gas discovery in East Kalimantan in previous years, but thus far, none of the discoveries had been brought into production.

Chevron is currently under pressure by Indonesian oil and gas authority to increase gas production from its East Kalimantan gas fields, as it was fall short of its gas supply commitment volume to Bontang LNG plant. (godang)