Release: Ranhill commences drilling in Indonesia

Kuala Lumpur, May 17 2007 - Ranhill Berhad, one of Malaysia’s premier conglomerates, announced today that it has commenced drilling on the Pasundan prospect in the Citarum PSC, located in West Java, Indonesia. Ranhill Energy Sdn Bhd (RESB), through its 60% equity interest in Bumi Parahyangan Ranhill Energia Citarum Pte Ltd (BPREC), won this block through a highly competitive bid. Citarum was one of eleven blocks offered for tender through a direct offer mechanism by the Indonesian Government.

 

The Citarum Block, located 50 km South East of Jakarta, covers a large exploration area, measuring 4,440 square kilometers in West Java. This block is adjacent to numerous onshore, and offshore oil and gas producing areas of the Northwest Java Basin, where production has already been prolific. Adjacent fields have yielded in aggregate 3.1 billion barrels of oil and 3.6 trillion cubic feet of gas.

 

The current well - Pasundan 1 - is the first of four wells scheduled for drilling in Citarum block as part of Ranhill Berhad’s commitment to explore this highly prospective and prolific basin. Pasundan-1 is targeting the Baturaja and Talang Akar formations together with other secondary targets in the upper Cibulakan and Jatibarang formations. The mean prospective resources for this prospect are 75 million barrels of oil equivalent. The well will be drilled to a total depth of 10,300 feet, and is expected to take approximately 50 days to complete. The well is being drilled by Great-Wall Drilling Company with Rig 93. Immediately upon completion of Pasundan-1, the second well, Kujang-1, will be drilled back to back in an adjacent but separate structure.

 

Ranhill’s current oil and gas investment includes a producing gas field - Jatirarangon TAG - about 15 km north of Citarum, an exploration block - Jambi Batu Gajah PSG -located in South Sumatra, and two exploration blocks – SC49 and SC-64 - in the Philippines. Ranhill’s aggressive entry into the oil and gas sector adds another dimension to our already established asset ownership portfolio of energy, power, water, and infrastructure, says Tan Sri Hamdan Mohamad, President and Chief Executive of Ranhill Berhad. (end of release)