Conoco to spend $2.5b in Indonesia<\/p>\n
Reuters, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Conoco Indonesia said on Thursday it expected to spend over
\nUS$2.5 billion in Indonesia's oil and gas sector in the next nine
\nyears, as part of planned investment of $3.4 billion between 1998
\nand 2010.<\/p>\n
Patrick Meyer, Conoco Indonesia president and general manager,
\nsaid the company remained focused on Block B in the Natuna Sea
\nwhere all its current production comes from.<\/p>\n
He said Conoco would double crude output and quadruple gas
\nproduction before the end of the decade.<\/p>\n
\"We planned to invest about $3.4 billion over the roughly 12-
\nyear period, which will be on a (gas) pipeline, drilling,
\nadditional platforms, and also on the Belanak FPSO (floating
\nproduction storage and offloading unit),\" Meyer told Reuters in
\nan interview.<\/p>\n
\"Of that, already spent so far is in the range of $750
\nmillion,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Conoco pumps about 44,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude
\nmainly from the Belida field, which was developed a decade ago
\nand is seeing output decline by 15 percent per year.<\/p>\n
Meyer said the company's production was expected to steadily
\ndecline until 2004 when the Belanak oil and gas field is slated
\nfor start up, bringing output back up to some 60,000 bpd.<\/p>\n
Belanak is being developed using an FPSO and is due to begin
\nproduction in the third quarter of 2004.<\/p>\n
By 2007, Meyer said Conoco's crude output was expected to
\ndouble from today's level to about 80,000 bpd, the bulk of which
\nwould come from Belanak.<\/p>\n
Meyer said Conoco Indonesia had shifted focus to gas
\nproduction, partly in line with the company's global strategy but
\nalso because of more attractive incentives offered by state firm
\nPertamina compared to oil exploration.<\/p>\n
Conoco has a 35 percent stake in Block B compared with a more
\nusual 15 percent contractor shareholding given for oil blocks.<\/p>\n
It currently produces about 100 million cubic feet a day (cfd)
\nof gas.<\/p>\n
\"We will continue to emphasize gas over oil and will work to
\ndevelop gas aggressively,\" Meyer said.<\/p>\n
\"For the next five years we are planning two platforms, the
\nBelanak FPSO, and installing quite a few subsea gas wells to
\nsupply gas to Singapore and Malaysia,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Under an agreement signed in March 2001, Indonesia will supply
\npipeline natural gas from Block B to Malaysia with deliveries to
\nstart in August this year.<\/p>\n
Block B is also part of the West Natuna consortium, which has
\nbeen supplying gas to Singapore since early last year.<\/p>\n
Meyer said gas output was expected to rise fourfold by 2007 to
\n400 million cfd.<\/p>\n
\"In the course of five to six years, we are going to be
\ntransforming the business from oil to gas and in terms of size,
\nwill be looking at production size three to four times where we
\nare today,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said the additional gas was in line with volumes already
\ncontracted to Singapore and Malaysia and would come mainly from
\nBlock B.<\/p>\n
Meyer said seismic studies on Conoco's newly awarded Nila
\nblock would take place later in 2002, but it would take at least
\nthree years before the size of the field's reserves becomes
\nclear. Nila is adjacent to Block B.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/conoco-to-spend-25b-in-indonesia-1447893297",
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