CPI to keep 2002 invest steady at under $1billion: Report

PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia (CPI) has said it was planning to keep this year's level of investment in Indonesia at less than US$1 billion, unchanged from 2001, Dow Jones reported on Wednesday.

In 2001, CPI, a unit of ChevronTexaco Corp., budgeted US$400 million for capital expenditure and US$400 million in operations expenses, said company spokesman Walt Maguire.

He added that CPI "will maintain a strong level of investment in Indonesia," as it has over the past five years.

A source close to CPI was quoted by Dow Jones as saying that the company oil production was expected to fall 5%-10% from 2001 output levels. The source added that Minas crude output would fall around 30% because production is slowing from mature fields.

But senior CPI officials disagreed with that prediction.

In 2001, Minas crude output averaged 128,000 barrels a day out of total 643,000 b/d produced by CPI, Galbraith said Wednesday. In December 2000, Galbraith put Minas output at an average 160,000 b/d, reflecting a 20% drop between 2000 and 2001.

But Minas crude production was relatively steady through 2001, Galbraith said, highlighting that it was unlikely that production would fall 30% this year.

CPI's total oil and gas output in 2001 was 663,000 b/d, he added. CPI's 2001 output falls short of 705,000 b/d posted in 2000 because of security problems faced in CPI's operation areas, concentrated in the Riau province of Sumatra. CPI has complained about frequent equipment theft and disruptions like blockades in its areas of operations, costing the company 40,000 b/d in lost oil production.

By August this year, CPI will relinquish its operations in Coastal Plains Pekanbaru, or CPP, which it operates under an extended production sharing contract.

"CPP is just a minor part of our investment in Indonesia," said Galbraith, adding that the expiring PSC shouldn't affect CPI's production sharply. (*)