Medco names advisor for assets sale

JSX-listed oil, gas company PT Medco Energi International has appointed Harrison Lovegrove & Co as advisor to carry out divestment of its minority interest in three oil, gas blocks in Indonesia and to farm out part of its interest in two operating blocks in South Sumatra.

Edi Bambang Setyobudi, Director of Medco E&P told Petromindo.Com on Friday that Medco would sell 18.75 percent interest in Kakap PSC in Natuna Sea, 25 percent in Tuban JOB onshore East Java, and 22.5 percent in Jeruk discovery in Sampang PSC offshore East Java. Medco E&P is a domestic upstream arm of Medco Energi International.

Edi said that the company was also looking to farm out a 15 percent interest in Rimau PSC onshore South Sumatra, where it now has a 95 percent working interest. Rimau is a maturing oil producing block with current production of 26,000 BPD. Medco is planning to apply EOR method in the block to extract additional reserves of between 20-70 million barrels.

He also added that Medco is seeking to divest a 21 percent interest at Lematang gas block in South Sumatra, where it now has 74 percent interest. The block is expected to produce 130 MMCFD of gas under the 9-year sales contract with state electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) at an average price of US$3.22 per MMBTU.

Edi hoped that the divestment could be concluded in the first quarter of 2008.

Several companies including Pertamina, PetroChina and Premier Oil have expressed interest in acquiring Medco?s assets that would be put on sale.(alex/godang)