Drilling at Cepu block to start in September

Drilling activities at the Cepu block in Central and East Java co-developed by U.S. giant ExxonMobil Corp. and Indonesia?s state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina are expected to start in September this year, Kompas reported on Monday.

ExxonMobil and Petamina are expected to submit the plan of development (POD) of the block to upstream authority BP Migas for approval.

?BP Migas has promised to complete the approval process of the POD in one month. Thus, the approval is expected to be completed in April,? Pertamina?s vice president Iin Arifin Takhyan was quoted by the paper as saying on Saturday.

He added that once the POD was approved, both firms would soon start procurement tender.

?Thus, the drilling can be started in the third quarter of the year, that is around September,? he said.

The block is believed to have at least 600 million barrels of oil and can produce between 165,000 and 170,000 barrels of oil per day at its peak production.

Meanwhile, Hestu Bagyo, director of PT Pertamina EP Cepu, said as part of efficiency, both companies would seek to cut down the drilling costs to US$5 million per well.

?The drilling will be carried out based on the standards of Pertamina and ExxonMobil The cost is lower than ExxonMobil?s standards,? he said. (*)