Pertamina to acquire Exxon?s West Africa block: Source

State oil and gas firm PT Pertamina (Persero) willpartly acquire a stake owned by ExxonMobil Corp. in an oil and gas block in West Africa as part of a deal between the two companies to jointly develop a massive gas reserves in the Natuna D Alpha block in Natuna sea.

?Pertamina wants the same size of oil, gas reserve of Natuna block in West Africa,? the source said, without giving further details.

When contacted by Petromindo, officials of both firms did not give details, saying there wasn't any updated information yet.

PT Pertamina (Persero) signed head of agreement (HoA) in December 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 Exxon.

Pertamina signed HoA with Exxon to jointly operate the gas rich block in early December 2010.

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