EXCLUSIVE: Pertamina optimistic to buy Repsol-YPF assets
Monday, December 11 2000 - 07:00 AM WIB
State oil and gas company Pertamina said it was optimistic to win the auction sale of the assets owned by Spanish-Argentinean oil and gas company Repsol-Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales (YPF) in Indonesia.
"We are optimistic to acquire the assets," Pertamina's director of exploration and production Gatot K. Wiroyudo told Petromindo on Monday.
Pertamina's financial director Ainun Naim told Petromindo that Pertamina had financial capability to buy the assets.
"We shall buy the assets with our own equity and loans," Ainun said, declining however to disclose the amount of financing prepared by Pertamina for the acquisition.
A source at Pertamina said the international auction of the Repsol-YPF assets was held two months ago in Argentina under the supervision of international financial firms Schroder Salomon Smith Barney (SSSB) and Waterous International Inc, which were appointed by Repsol-YPF to assist in the divestment of its Indonesian assets. Pertamina competed with local firm Medco Energy Corp., Japanese firm Mitsui, Thai firm Thailand Petroleum Authority (PTT) and South Korean firm Korean National Oil Company (KNOC).
The source said the bidding price proposal submitted by Pertamina was lower than those proposed by other bidding participants, but he said Repsol-YPF "favored" the state company given its experiences.
Repsol, which acquired YPF in 1999, has said that it wanted to divest its assets in the United Kingdom and Indonesia to raise a total of US$2.5 billion to repay its debt and finance its expansion programs.
SSSB and Waterous earlier said Repsol-YPF planned to sell the assets because it would concentrate in North Africa and Latin America.
According to SSSB and Waterous, Repsol-YPF's Indonesian assets comprise seven production sharing contract (PSC) blocks. Four of the seven blocks are already in production with the remaining three still in exploration phase.
The four production blocks are the South East Sumatra block, which is operated and 65 percent owned by Repsol-YPF; the North West Java block, which is 36.7 percent owned by Repsol-YPF and operated by American oil and gas company ARCO; the West Madura block, which is 25 percent owned by Repsol-YPF and jointly operated by Repsol-YPF and South Korean firm Kodeco; the Poleng block, which is 50 percent owned by Repsol-YPF and jointly operated by Repsol-YPF and Kodeco.
Repsol-YPF's contract on SE Sumatra will last until 2018, while contracts on North West Java, West Madura, Poleng expire in 2016, 2011 and 2013 respectively.
The company currently produces 150,700 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOEPD), mainly from the South East Sumatra and North West Java blocks, according SSSB and Waterous.
Repsol-YPF is now the largest offshore oil producer in Indonesia.
The asset sale will give "the opportunity to acquire the largest offshore oil producer in Indonesia," SSSB and Waterous said in a statement.
Repsol-YPF's blocks, which are in exploration stage, are the Jambi Merang block, which is 25 percent owned and operated by the company; the Blora block, which is 16.7 percent owned by Repsol-YPF and operated by Coparex; and the South Sokang block, which is 45 percent owned and operated by the company.
Contract on the Jambi Merang block will last until 2019, while contracts on the Blora and South Sokang blocks expire in 2026 and 2028 respectively.
It remains unclear whether Pertamina wanted to buy all Repsol-YPF's Indonesian assets or only some parts of them.
Gatot said on Monday Pertamina wanted to buy "between ten and 12 percent" of the company's assets but he did not specify. (Godang)