Gulf's oil and gas output drop in Q1
Tuesday, May 8 2001 - 05:30 AM WIB
Gulf Indonesia Resources announced on Tuesday a decrease in its net oil and gas output to 41,700 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOEPD) in the first quarter of the year, from 47.1 BOEPD in the year-ago period.
The company, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, said in its quarterly report made available to Petromindo.Com on Tuesday that the decrease in the output was because of reduction in the company's shares in the Corridor production sharing contract (PSC) block in South Sumatra and the lower gas sales volumes from the block to the Duri oil field in Riau, owned by American energy firm PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia.
Corridor is the company's Indonesian major asset with a contribution of more than half of the company's revenue.
Gulf said its shares in Corridor had dropped to 54 percent following the acquisition by state oil and gas company Pertamina of a 6 percent stake. Corridor is now 54 percent owned by Gulf, 36 percent by Canadian firm Talisman Energy Inc and 10 percent by Pertamina.
The company also said its gas supplies to Caltex dropped the first quarter of the year due operational issues at the Duri Steamflood project.
The company noted however it received oil from Caltex at the quantity set in their take-or-pay contract. Caltex bartered its oil for gas from Gulf.
Company president and chief executive officer W.T. (Bill) Fanagan voiced however optimism that Gulf's output was set to pick up in the future.
"The signing of the Sumatra Gas to Singapore deal and the commencement of gas deliveries for the West Natuna Gas project provides us with definable volume growth from our existing asset base to around 60,000 BOEPD by the third quarter of 2003,
"The additional gas potential identified at Suban, our exciting discovery at Bukit Tua and the results of the Ujung Pangkah delineation give us the potential to increase production volumes beyond this level in the future," Fanagan said.
On Feb. 12, this year, Gulf and its partners in the Sumatra-Singapore gas project entered into definitive agreements for the supply of 2.27 TCF of sales from Sumatra to Singapore over 20 years. Gulf's net share in the gas supply totals 700 billion cubic feet (BCF).
Gulf said it and its partners in Corridor had also completed delineation at the Suban 5 well in the first quarter of the year, where tests flowed at the rate of 31 million cubic feet of gas per day (MMCFD).
It further said that it and its equal partner Petronas Carigali also discovered oil reserves at the Bukit Tua 1 well at the Ketapang PSC block in the West Natuna area in the firs quarter of the year. Tests at the well flowed 7,250 barrels of oil per day (bpd).
Delineation program at the Pangkah PSC block had also been completed in the first quarter of the year, resulting in the certification of over 450 BCF of "technically" proved plus probable gas reserves.
Gulf further announced that it started gas deliveries from the Kakap PSC to Singapore on March 4. (Bodega)