EMP gets $152 million loan

Publicly listed oil and gas firm PT Energi Mega Persada Tbk (EMP) has obtained a US$152.75 million loan from several creditors, who are lead by the investment bank Credit Suisse, the Investor Daily reported Monday.

EMP?s president director Chris Newton said in Jakarta over the weekend that the loan will be used for refinancing and to finance the company?s oil and gas projects at four locations.

According to him, the loan was disbursed on August 23. Thirty percent of the loan will be used for refinancing with the rest to finance the development of oil wells at Semberah TAC in East Kalimantan, which produces 700 barrels of oil per day (bpd); Sungai Gelam TAC in Jambi, which produces 200 bpd and a gas field at Gebang PSC in North Sumatra, which produces 4 million cubic feet gas per day.

Newton has further said that some of the money will also used for gas exploration activities at Korinci Baru and Bentu PSC. Both fields are located in Riau province.

Newton said the loan is a sign of high-level trust among financial investors towards EMP. The firm is struggling to solve the problem caused by the continued hot mudflow from its well in East Java, that has inundated hundreds of hectares of lands in the area and displaced thousands of people (*)