Unocal to spend significant portion of 2002 capital investment in Indonesia

Unocal Corp., independent natural gas and oil producer, on Monday said it budgeted $1.7 billion for 2002 worldwide capital spending, about flat with last year, but would spend more on developing existing prospects rather than exploring for new ones.

Unocal said it would spend US$ 250 million on development of new deepwater oil and gas production in Indonesia and the Gulf of Mexico out of the US$ 1.7 billion capital expenditure budgeted in 2002.

Unocal chairman and chief executive officer Charles R. Williamson said in statement exploration capital for 2002 was expected to total about $400 million which would include spending for delineation of the Trident deepwater Gulf of Mexico discovery and the Ranggas deepwater discovery in Makassar Strait. (alex)