Pertamina says ExxonMobil resumes Cluster IV gas operations

State oil and gas company Pertamina said Friday that ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia had resumed its cluster IV gas operations in Aceh, which had been closed down since March due to security reasons.

?At 3.30 PM Thursday, Cluster IV resumed operations at 50 million standard cubic feet per day (MMCFD). The production would be expected to reach 200 MMCFD soon,? Sidick Nitikusuma, Pertamina spokesperson told Petromindo.com through phone interview.

?ExxonMobil team is also preparing for reoperations of Cluster III. We hope ExxonMobil would be able to resume full operation in the coming weeks,? said L. Harijanto, another Pertamina spokesperson.

ExxonMobil restarted Cluster I and Cluster II gas operations in July, enabling Arun NGL, which liquefies gas from ExxonMobil to produce 4 cargoes of LNG this month.

Earlier, Pertamina said it had contractual obligation to send 9 to 10 cargoes of LNG to Japanese and Korean buyers in October and unless Cluster III and Cluster IV were reopened in September, it would not be possible to meet the requirement.

None of ExxonMobil?s official could be reached for comment. (godang)