Pertamina, Petronas to resume E. Natuna gas talks

State oil and gas company Pertamina and Malaysia?s state oil company Petronas will resume talks over the possibility of the latter?s participation to tap East Natuna Block D Alpha giant gas reserves, according to a senior Pertamina official.

Iin Arifin Takhyan, Pertamina?s upstream director said Thursday the talk would be held in June 6 in Kuala Lumpur.

Petronas had shown interest to purchase 1 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas from East Natuna starting 2010 and would also like to have upstream participation in the block.

East Natuna Block D Alpha contains an estimated 210 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas, but due to high sulphur content, only 45 TCF are thought to be recoverable commercially. US oil major ExxonMobil Corp. has 76 percent stake in the field, while Pertamina has the remaining 24 percent.

Iin said Petronas had not revealed percentage of participation Petronas was seeking, but said Pertamina and ExxonMobil were ready to give up some interest. Earlier, Iin said Pertamina would be willing to give Petronas 13 percent stake.(alex)