Investment in oil and gas estimated to reach $6 billion this year
Tuesday, January 28 2003 - 03:14 AM WIB
Director General of Oil and Gas Iin Arifin Takhyan said in Jakarta on Monday that the massive expansion plan to be conducted by TotalFinaElf in East Kalimantan would contribute to a significant increase in the total investment in the oil and gas sector.
He said that TotalFinaElf planned to inject fresh funds totaling $1 billion to carry out its expansion program in Peciko and Tunu in East Kalimantan.
Earlier, Rachmat Sudibyo, the chairman of BPMIGAS, the government?s agency supervising the country?s oil and gas exploration and production, said that total investment in the oil and gas sector slightly dropped to US$3.41 billion in last year from about $3.94 billion in previous.
According to Rachmat, the slight drop in the investment was partly due to uncertainty in security. But he is optimistic that the investment will continue to increase in the coming years because many oil and gas fields in the country have not yet been fully explored.
The government will auction next month 11 oil and gas blocks to both local and foreign oil and gas companies. The oil and gas blocks are located in offshore East Java, Jambi and Tarakan island. (*)