Elnusa to acquire interest in Myanmar oil block

PT Elnusa, a unit of state oil and gas firm Pertamina, said on Monday it would allocate between US$8 million and $10 million for acquiring an interest in an oil block onshore Myanmar.

?Pertamina had studied the block. We want a participating interest in it,? Elnusa president director Rudi Radjab told a news conference in Jakarta.

Myanmar?s company Gold Water currently owns the oil block, Rudi said.

Rudi expects their plan to materialize by the end of 2003, over one year before Elnusa sells its shares in an initial public offering.

He said further that Elnusa had also planned to build oil refineries and depots overseas, saying that they had approached Singapore to develop such projects in the island state. Singapore currently refines only 265,000 barrels per day of oil.

The company also expects its cooperation with Singapore to become reality by the end of this year, Rudi said. (godang)