Purnomo: ExxonMobil agrees on PSC for Cepu
Thursday, August 14 2003 - 01:55 AM WIB
?ExxonMobil said today it agreed to cooperate with Pertamina on Cepu under production sharing scheme,? Purnomo told reporters after meeting with ExxonMobil officials. They were Stuart McGill, president of ExxonMobil Production Company; its executive vice president, M.W. Scoggins; and Ronald Wilson, president and general manager of ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia.
Punomo said however that Pertamina and ExxonMobil had not discussed revenue split in their meeting.
Pertamina owns the Cepu block.
Pertamina recently offered a ?special contract? scheme to ExxonMobil in a bid to settle a protracted dispute over the contract for Cepu block.
Pertamina president director Baihaki Hakim then said the contract offered by his company was a working contract with Pertamina, but it would be similar to a split revenue contract between the government and other PSCs. He did not provide the details however.
Currently, ExxonMobil operates Cepu block through its unit Mobil Cepu Ltd. under a technical assistance contract (TAC). The TAC allowed ExxonMobil to rehabilitate wells in the concession area.
ExxonMobil and Pertamina have been involved in protracted negotiations on the future operation of Cepu block as ExxonMobil has insisted on seeking TAC extension for another 20 years. The TAC expires in 2010.
The current oil and gas law, put into force in 2001, excludes TAC.
Pertamina insisted on taking over Cepu after 2010, claiming that Tommy Soeharto, the youngest son of then authoritarian President Soeharto, had coerced it in 1990 to sell the block to their investors.
Last year, Pertamina proposed to form a joint venture with ExxonMobil to manage and operate Cepu. The two parties however failed to agree on share proportion in the joint venture.
ExxonMobil claims that Cepu oil fields hold reserves of about 250 million barrels, while a study conducted by state-owned Oil and Gas Institute (Lemigas) points to bigger reserves. (godang)