Pertamina, ExxonMobil to sign Cepu JOA in next three weeks

Coordinating Minister for Economy Aburizal Bakrie expected state oil and gas company Pertamina and ExxonMobil to be able to sign a joint operating agreement on the operation of the Cepu oil block within the next three weeks, Koran Tempo reported on Tuesday.

"It is up to the two companies to decide what kind of deals they will make. It is a business to business deal and the government will not intervene," Aburizal told the press on Monday.

The government formally awarded on Saturday a production sharing contract to Pertamina and ExxonMobil on the operation of the Cepu oil block after more than four years of delay. However, a joint operating agreement between the two companies on the operation of the oil bock has not yet been signed.

Meanwhile Pertamina's president director Widya Purnama said that he hoped the joint operating agreement could be signed soon. "We hope the agreement could be signed this year," he said following a meeting with Vice President M. Jusuf Kalla. (*)