Pertamina insists to become operator of the Cepu oil block

A newly appoint president director of Pertamina Ari H. Soermarno has made it clear that Pertamina would continue to try its best to become the operator of the Cepu oil block.

"Acting as the operator of the Cepu oil block remains our main priority," he told reporters at his office on Thursday. However, he said that he would accept if the government would latter decide to appoint ExxonMobil as the operator.

"The most important thing is that we will accept any decision that is made for the interest of the people," he added. Ari was appointed on Wednesday as the new president of Pertamina replacing Widya Purnama in a move believed to clear the way for ExxonMobil to take the operatorship position in the oil block.

Meanwhile the head of the negotiation team Roes Aryawijaya said that the talks over the operatorship of the Cepu oil block had been very encouraging as both Pertamina and Exxon had accepted a number of important points in the future operation of the oil block.

He said that the oil block would be operated under a joint contractor system. But the negotiation team of both Pertamina and Exxon had not decided who would fill in the managerial positions in the joint contractor.

The negotiation would now enter the final stage to decide the positions that would be filled in by Pertamina and ExxonMobil in the joint contractor, he said. (Godang)