Petronas to sign gas pact by year-end<\/p>\n
Associated Press, Kuala Lumpur<\/p>\n
Malaysia's national oil and gas company aims to sign an
\nagreement by the end of this year develop gas reserves in
\nIndonesia's East Natuna Sea, an official said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
"A general memorandum to agree to develop East Natuna will
\nprobably be signed by the end of the year," said Muri Muhammad,
\nvice president for gas business of Petroliam Nasional Bhd., or
\nPetronas.<\/p>\n
He said that Petronas was in discussions with Indonesia's
\nstate-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina and other upstream players
\nin Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Muri said Petronas was "looking at utilization of East Natuna
\ngas" starting 2010. But he reiterated concerns about high carbon
\ndioxide content in the area's D-Alpha gas reserves.<\/p>\n
"East Natuna is a long term project (with) huge gas reserves,"
\nMuri said. "Unfortunately, it has a lot of carbon dioxide ...
\nthat may make it commercially very difficult to develop."<\/p>\n
Iin Arifin Takyan, Pertamina's upstream director, said the
\nIndonesian company had presented a draft of the memorandum of
\nunderstanding that would allow Petronas to study their gas
\nreserves.<\/p>\n
"We'll hear from them, hopefully in a couple of weeks," said
\nIin, who was in Kuala Lumpur to present the draft. "Petronas is
\nstudying the possibility to buy gas from us and to join in
\nupstream operations."<\/p>\n
ExxonMobil Indonesia Inc., a unit of Exxon Mobil Corp., holds
\na 74 percent stake and operates the D-Alpha gas project in East
\nNatuna. Pertamina holds the remaining 26 percent share.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/petronas-to-sign-gas-pact-by-year-end-1447893297",
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