Pertamina's plan to swap oil fields approved

BP Migas, upstream oil and gas regulatory agency has approved the state owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina's plan to swap a number of its oil fields with those operated by a number of foreign oil companies such as Shell, Petronas, Anadarko, PTT Thailand and Staat Oil.

Chairman of the agency Kardaya Warnika said in Jakarta Saturday that there would be no problem for Pertamina to swap its oil fields with the companies as long as it did not have a special privilege on the oil fields that would be exchanged.

"If today (the cost) is US$10 per barrel, we shall reject cost claim of higher than $10 per barrel,? he said.

In addition, Pertamina should also make different terms of condition for oil fields which have begun operation and those which have not, because those two types of oil fields would have different levels of cost recovery.

Early last week, Pertamina said that it planned to sells a number of its fields with those owned by Shell, Petronas, Anadarko, PTT Thailand and Staat Oil to enable it to get exploration rights overseas such as North Africa, West Africa and the Middle East. (godang)