Pertamina ready to give 13 percent E. Natuna share to Petronas
Wednesday, March 20 2002 - 04:05 PM WIB
Currently Exxon Mobil has a 76 percent stake in the D-Alpha natural gas block in the South China Sea, while Pertamina has 24 percent.
``I think Pertamina is ready to give up (part of) its share to Petronas in return if they buy the natural gas from D-Alpha gas field,'' Pertamina's upstream director Iin Arifin Takhyan told reporters.
When asked whether Pertamina was ready to give up a 13 percent stake, Takhyan said: ``Yes''.
``We have signed a memorandum of understanding with Petronas early this week to allow them to access the data and other information from the D-Alpha block,'' he said.
``Petronas said they were keen to buy one billion cubic feet per day from Natuna D-Alpha. They wanted to participate in upstream there. We are ready to respond that,'' Takhyan said.
The field contains an estimated 210 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas, of which 45 tcf are thought to be recoverable commercially.
It was not clear whether or not ExxonMobil is also ready to give up some stake in Natuna D-Alpha to Petronas. (*)