Pertamina picks Total, Petronas beside Exxon as partners in Natuna block

State oil, gas firm PT Pertamina (Persero) signed head of agreement (HoA) on Friday with France?s Total SA and Malaysia?s Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas), to jointly develop Natuna D Alpha gas block in Natuna sea together with US oil giant ExxonMobil Corp.

Pertamina signed HoA with ExxonMobil Corp. to jointly operate the gas rich block early this month.

The government has handed over the block to Pertamina after the contract owned by ExxonMobil expired. The block is believed to hold 47 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of recoverable natural gas but with high CO2 content. (godang/giok)