El Paso plans to sell Indonesian assets

Houston-based energy company El Paso Corporation said Monday it planned to divest its international holdings in Canada (other than Nova Scotia), Hungary and Indonesia in a bid to focus on its E&P business from production growth to managing for returns on invested capital.

?El Paso will focus its future operations on several growth areas: the deep shelf of the Gulf of Mexico, coal bed methane development, onshore Texas (primarily Vicksburg and Wilcox trends), and central operations (North Louisiana and East Texas),? the company said in a statement.

El Paso has two upstream assets in Indonesia; Sampang Production Sharing Contract (PSC) offshore East Java (40 percent) and Sengkang PSC in South Sulawesi (50 percent).

The company also has a 47.5 percent interest in the 135-megawatt Sengkang Power Plant, also in South Sulawesi.

The company said it intended to operate its international power assets to maximize cash flow and value over the next three to five years.(Robert)