Thai?s PTT may acquire interest in East Natuna giant gas block

State oil and gas company Pertamina said that Thailand?s oil company Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) is interested in acquiring stake in East Natuna D Alpha giant gas block and will sign a memorandum of understanding on December 20.

?East Natuna data room will be opened in January," said Iin Arifin Takhyan, Pertamina?s upstream director.

Iin did not disclose the percentage of interest PTT was seeking to acquire.

He also said that talk with Malaysia?s Petronas about its participation in the block is still ongoing and hoped that Petronas will make decision ?soon?.

D Alpha Block contains an estimated 210 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas, but due to high sulphur content, only 45 TCF are thought to be recoverable commercially.

U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil Corp. has 76 percent stake in the block, while Pertamina has the remaining 24 percent.

Studies conducted by Exxon Mobil showed that the block could only be economically exploited with production volume of at least 1 billion cubic feet per day. Exxon Mobil had drawn long-term plans of building gas pipelines to China, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Java and also to build LNG center. (alex/godang)