Pertamina, PetroVietnam and Petronas in Java exploration pact

State oil and gas company PT.Pertamina, together with Vietnam national oil Petrovietnam Investment and Development Company (PIDC) and Malaysian national oil firm Petronas would sign tripartite agreement to jointly operate Randu Gunting block onshore Central Java.

R. Priyono, Upstream director at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources told reporters on Thursday that the PSC agreement would be signed this month during the visit of Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to Jakarta.

Tripartite talks was almost collapsed as PIDC has asked the government to give 40 split as enjoyed by Pertamina, instead of the normal split of 15 percent for oil and 30 percent for gas.

Priyono said in an earlier interview that PIDC and Petronas had finally agreed to get normal split.

The three parties had been planning the joint venture since 2003. Under the tripartite deal, the three state oil companies will jointly explore in Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia with host companies holding 40 percent and operatorship and the balance equally shared by the two guests companies.

Similar ventures had been established in Malaysia and Vietnam. (bernard)