ExxonMobil?s gas production almost reaches normal level
Saturday, July 21 2001 - 03:01 AM WIB
Abubakar Sidick Nitikusumah, the general manager of the directorate of production sharing management at state oil and gas company Pertamina, said in Jakarta on Friday that the production progress would allow liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer PT Arun NGL to speed up the LNG shipment to its foreign buyers sooner than expected.
?It is for the first time in history that Exxon could make such high production level during the start-up process,? he was quoted as saying by the daily. He noted that previously ExxonMobil needed at least a week to bring back the production of its gas fields at its normal level.
ExxonMobil, which closed down its gas fields in March due to security concerns, resumed the production activities on Wednesday following pressure from both Pertamina and the government.
The production started on Wednesday evening with the reopening of its Cluster II gas fields.
Siddick said that the production level at the Cluster II could reach 250 million cubic feet per day this weekend. ?Technically, production activities at the Cluster I gas field could be resumed soon after the production level at the Cluster II has reached 250 million cubic feet,? he added.
Separately, a source said that Pertamina and the government were discussing the possibility of speeding up the LNG delivery to Arun NGL?s main buyers South Korea and Japan, which during the closure of the Exxon gas fields, received its LNG supply from Pertamina?s LNG plant in Bontang, East Kalimantan.
Pertmina initially hoped that the LNG export from the Arun LNG plant could be resumed next month.
The American oil and gas giant ExxonMobil Indonesia closed the operation of its gas fields in Arun early in March due to security reasons. As the consequence, several companies, including the Arun plant, which relied on gas supply from the company, had also been forced to shut down their operation.(*)