Three foreign firms explore new gas sources in Papua
Friday, May 19 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
Three foreign oil companies including ARCO, British Gas and Irian Gas Oil have started exploring new sources of natural gas in the Papua province or formerly known as the Irian Jaya province.
A Pertamina spokesman was quoted by Antara news agency as saying that ARCO had already found a huge deposit of natural gas in Weriagar subdistrict, Manokwari district.
He said that the company was starting making preparations for the exploration stage.
The spokesman added that British gas had begun exploring the Bintuni sub district, also in Manokwari, while the U.S.-based Irian Gas Oil focused on the upper part of the Tami River in Jayapura district, near the border with Papua New Guinea.
The spokesman said that if the three companies succeeded with their exploration, Papua would become Indonesia's largest source of liquefied natural gas. (*)