Pertamina eyes Aceh's Block A gas field

State owned oil and gas company Pertamina has expressed its interest to take over the ownership of ConocoPhillips in the Block A gas field in Aceh , which is estimated to be able to produce about 24 million cubic feet of gas per day, Neraca reported on Monday.

Ridwan Nyak Baik, the manager for Pertamina's operations in North Sumatra and Aceh, said in Jakarta Saturday that the state owned oil and gas company would be ready to become the operator of the gas field.

"We can develop between six and eight gas wells at the Block A gas field within three years, with investment of about US$50 million," he said.

The Block A gas field is equally owned by ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil. But ConocoPhillips until now has yet to develop the gas field despite the government's offer to give them a bigger production split from the gas field's production.

The government has offered ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil 48 percent production split from the Block A gas field, much higher than the average 30 percent given to existing gas producers. The two oil and gas giants have instead demanded 50 percent split.

The government hopes that the development of the Block A gas field would help cope with the shortage of the gas supply to the Arun LNG plant and Pupuk Iskandar Muda and AAF fertilizer plants.

The gas production of the existing Arun gas field operated by ExxonMobil is only enough to meet the Arun LNG plant's long-term export commitment. (*)