ExxonMobil to meet Pertamina to revive talks on Cepu block

Executives of Indonesian unit of US giant ExxonMobil corp. will meet on Thursday with Pertamina?s board of directors in a bid to revive talks over Cepu oil block.

Pertamina president Widya Purnama said that he did not know what ExxonMobil would propose during the meeting and he refused to confirm whether there is still any room for ExxonMobil to resume negotiation.

Pertamina had unilaterally decided not to extend Cepu TAC block contract when it expired in 2010 and cancelled joint venture plan between both companies to develop the block, which is believed to contain 600 million barrels of recoverable oil.

The technical assistance contract held by ExxonMobil to operate the Cepu oil field will terminate in 2010. But the oil giant demanded an earlier extension of the contract for another 20 years for the certainty of its investment in the oil field. ExxonMobil thus far had invested some US$450 on Cepu block.(godang)