Pertamina confirms Petronas interested to buy gas from Premier:
Tuesday, February 13 2001 - 05:30 AM WIB
Malaysian oil and gas company Petronas was interested to buy natural gas from British firm Premier Oil, in addition to the amount it planned to buy from American oil and gas company Conoco Inc, a senior official of state oil and gas company Pertamina said.
Exploration and production head at Pertamina's production sharing contract (PSC) directorate Trijana told Petromindo.Com on Monday that Petronas had indicated its interest to buy about 100 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) of natural gas from Premier's Block A PSC in the West Natuna Area of the South China Sea.
This is in addition to the between 250 and 325 MMCFD of natural gas the company planned to buy from Conoco's Block B PSC in the same area for 22 years.
Petronas has 25 percent stake in Premier's operations in Asia, including in the Block A PSC.
Pertamina signed last year a preliminary agreement with Petronas for the gas supply from Conoco's fields.
Trijana said he would head a Pertamina team's visit to Malaysia on Tuesday (today) to finalize negotiations on the Conoco gas sale contract as well as to talk about the gas supply from Premier's fields.
"We hope the final contract on the Conoco gas supply can be signed in March," Trijana on the sidelines of the signing ceremony of the contract for gas supplies from Sumatra to Singapore.
Trijana also said Petronas had indicated its interest to also buy gas from the Alpha PSC block owned by ExxonMobil in the East Natuna, but he did not provide details.
The Alpha block is considered as one of the world's largest gas finds with a reserves of about 45 trillion cubic feet (TCF).
The former President Soeharto's government tried to sell the gas to Thailand and some other countries and even established a special body headed by former Minister of Research and Technology to handle the marketing and the planned development of the project. But, the effort had thus far brought no fruits. (Alex)