ExxonMobil to start exploration Mandar, Surumana blocks

ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia would start to explore oil and gas blocks in Mandar and Surumana this year. The exploration of the two blocks located in border of South Sulawesi and West Sulawesi is predicted to cost around US$70 million Investor Daily reported.

?Indeed, we would explore the two blocks by drilling at least three wells per block. But, we would undertake seismic test before drilling,? the company?s Vice President External Relation, Maman Budiman said in Jakarta recently.

Maman disclosed that ExxonMobil would explore the two blocks in three years, in the first stage, but he refused to specify the exact value of investment in the project. ?Exploration aims at ascertaining whether the blocks contain oil and gas reserves or not,? he went on.

ExxonMobil had signed a production sharing contract of Mandar Block in Makassar Strait offshore West Sulawesi early 2007. The company controls a 100% participating interest in the block covering an area of 4,200 km2.

The Surumana Block, which comprises 5,340 square kilometers (1.3 million acres), is located in the North Makassar Basin offshore Sulawesi in water depths ranging from a few meters to more than 2,000 meters (6,562 feet). (*)