ChevronTexaco urges better terms for Asia oil invest: Report

ChevronTexaco Corp has called for better terms from governments in the Asia region to encourage investment in oil producing countries, Dow Jones reported from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

ChevronTexaco chairman and CEO David O'Reilly said Monday that governments in the region must make more of an effort to provide incentives for investment in the oil producing industry. This would offset higher expenses required to produce oil from mature fields, and more challenging exploration areas.

O'Reilly, who was speaking on the sidelines of an Asian oil and gas conference, didn't specify what incentives were needed to encourage greater foreign investment in exploration and production of oil and/or gas in the region.

He only said that for "enhanced oil recovery, existing terms need to be revisited" if producers were to put in the required investment.

ChevronTexaco produces 560,000 b/d of mostly oil from Indonesia, O'Reilly said, half of Indonesia's 1.1 million barrels a day of oil production.

When asked about Indonesia, O'Reilly suggested the government wasn't doing as much as it could to encourage more investment to boost oil output from Asia's only OPEC member that has turned into a crude net-importer.

Elsewhere in the Asia Pacific region, ChevronTexaco has upstream interest in China, Australia, Thailand and Cambodia. As it rationalizes its upstream portfolio, selling assets worth $1 billion to $2 billion in the next year or so, while developing key projects, ChevronTexaco's oil production is expected to decline before stabilizing.

ChevronTexaco also has refining interests in Australia, Singapore, Thailand and South Korea. (*)