S. Sumatra to take over Hess? Harimau oil well in late December

The South Sumatra administration?s oil and gas company BUMD (BUMD Migas) expects to take over from state and gas company Pertamina the management of an old oilwell in the Harimau fields in the Muaraenim district in late December.

The management takeover will be the first activity carried out by BUMD which was established one year ago, Palembang-based Sriwijaya Post daily reported on Tuesday.

The well is owned by State oil and gas company Pertamina and presently operated by American company Amerada Hess (Indonesia-Lematang) Ltd.

?Hopefully, in late December, the takeover process will be completed so that we could operate the Harimau field wells in early 2002,? BUMD president director Djanoer Moenir told reporters over the weekend, according to Sriwijaya Post.

Moneir said because the oil well was no longer profitable for Amerada Hess, it had been advised to surrender it to Pertamina.

He said Pertamina had planned to transfer the well to the South Sumatra administration which in turn would manage it through BUMD.

He said the well would still be able to turn out 100 barrels per day (bpd) of oil and 3-4 MMSCFD of gas, for three years. (*)