Pertamina urged to report its position on Cepu oil block
Friday, August 19 2005 - 02:03 AM WIB
Purnomo said that Pertamina had recently held a shareholders meeting to decide its position on the deal agreed with ExxonMobil but it had not reported the result of the meeting to his ministry.
According to the minister, the government which holds the rights to develop the Cepu oil block needed to know Pertamina’s position on the deal, especially related to the portion of its participating interest, the amount of compensation demanded by Pertamina from ExxonMobil, and the future operator of the oil block.
“If there is a difference, it should be cleared so that the development of the Cepu oil block could be soon started,” the minister said.
The Cepu oil block, located in Bojonegoro regency in East Java, is currently operated by ExxonMobil under a technical contract with Pertamina, which would end in 2010. Under the latest deal, ExxonMobil is allowed to operate the oil block for another 20 years in cooperation with the state owned oil and gas company.
Under the deal agreed recently, Pertamina will have 45 percent interest in the oil block, ExxonMobil the other 45 percent, and the remaining 10 percent will be given to local government-owned company (BUMD).
Meanwhile Pertamina’s president director Widya Purnomo said that Pertamina had formally reported its position to State Minister of State Enterprises, Chief Economic Minister and Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources.
“Our position is clearly stated in the report,” he said, adding that in the report, Pertamina which claims the ownership of the oil block, demanded a participating interest of 55 percent, and to be appointed as the operator of the oil block. He, however, did not unveil the amount of the compensation demanded by Pertamina over the extension of the contract to ExxonMobil. (*)