Pertamina short-lists potential partners for Natuna D Alpha
Saturday, November 15 2008 - 12:23 AM WIB
Upstream Director Karen Agustiawan said that the companies are: ExxonMobil, Corp., Total SA, Chevron Corp., StatOil, Royal Dutch/Shell, Eni SpA, Petronas and China National Petroleum Corp.
According to Karen, the companies were short-listed out of some 20 companies based on recommendation of Wood Mackenzie.
The eight will be asked to submit offers to Pertamina including the sweetener such as asset swap, Karen said.
Karen said earlier that Pertamina targeted to complete partner selection by year-end.
Karen said Pertamina is ready to farm out up to 60 percent interest in the giant block to partner and did not rule out the possibility of selecting more than one partners.
The government has handed over the block to Pertamina after the contract owned by American oil and gas giant ExxonMobil Corp. expired. The block is believed to hold 47 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas.
Karen said Pertamina is ready to farm out up to 60 percent interest in the giant block to partner and did not rule out the possibility of selecting more than one partners. Karen said Pertamina and the partner(s) might form a Joint Operating Committee to co-operate the block.
Consultant Wood Mackenzie assists Pertamina in the selection process.
Karen also said that Pertamina is currently in negotiation with the government to finalize the block?s production sharing contract and hoped the contract could be completed before year-end.
Pertamina CEO Ari Soemarno said earlier that that aside from being strong financially, partners in developing the block should be highly capable in terms of technology given that an advanced technology is needed to separate CO2 from the gas and inject into the soil. Total investment to develop the block is estimated to reach over US$25 billion. (godang)