Jero: Eni to icnrease investments in Indonesia

By Romel S. Gurky

Italian oil and gas company Eni SpA will increase its investments and intensify exploration activities in its unexplored blocks in Indonesia.

?Eni has made big investment in Indonesia, but they want to further increase it as they are confident over the current development of Indonesia,? Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik said in Jakarta on Friday after having a meeting with Eni Chief Executive Officer Paolo Scaroni.

Jero noted that Eni is the biggest oil company in Italy and it has a special qualification in deep water explorations. ?Drilling in deep water is one of its expertise. When it does explorations in Indonesia, the cost will be its responsibility. Only when it makes a discovery and starts the production, we?ll compensate them through the cost recovery scheme,? he said.

During the meeting, Paolo Scaroni updated the Minister of Energy on the progress of ongoing projects, including the project of Jangkrik operated by Eni in East Kalimantan deep waters, where production is expected to start less than 7 years after its new discovery.

Eni is also participating in the development of significant gas reserves located in the Ganal and Rapak blocks, close to the Jangkrik discovery. Gas production from these projects will be sent to the existing liquefaction plant of Bontang.

Eni holds working interests in 13 permits and operates 9 of them. They are located in the Tarakan and Kutei Basins (West Kalimantan), north of Sumatra , West Timor and West Papua . Eni is active in the Mahakam Delta region, East Kalimantan , where it is the operator through the company VICO Ltd (Eni 50%, BP 50%), in Sanga Sanga field where Eni has equity production of approximately 18,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Eni has also been awarded a new coal-bed methane production sharing contract (PSC), through its operated joint venture affiliate VICO CBM Limited (Eni 50%, BP 50%).

Editing by Benget Besalicto Tnb