EMP agrees to acquire Tonga PSC

IDX-listed oil and gas company PT Energi Mega Persada Tbk (EMP) has entered into a conditional sales and purchase agreement worth US$ 11.8 million with PT Masagena Agung to acquire the latter's 75 percent shares in PT Mosesa Petroleum.

Mosesa Petroleum currently holds a 71.25 percent interest in the Tonga PSC in North Sumatra. An independent estimate puts Tonga PSC?s oil and gas resources at up to 90 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe), the company said in statement on Wednesday.

According to EMP, the Tonga PSC contains the undeveloped Tonga field, which was tested at a combined rate of over 850 barrels of oil per day from two zones. Commercial production is expected to commence in 2009 once more thorough evaluations of the block including a 3-D Seismic data acquisition and a delineation well drilling are completed.

In addition, a 2-D seismic program will be carried out to measure the prospective resources of the block, prior to a selection of additional exploration drilling

EMP will finance this acquisition using its own internal resources.

The transaction is subject to further due diligence by EMP which will be finalized within 60 days after the signing of the conditional sales & purchase agreement, EMP added. (denny)