Unocal invests US$1.5 billion over five years<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): American oil and gas company Unocal Corporation
\nsaid it, together with its partners, had allocated a US$1.5
\nbillion investment to develop the country's oil, gas and
\ngeothermal resources during the 1997 to 2002 period.<\/p>\n
The size of the investment underlined Unocal's commitment to
\nIndonesia and made it \"one of the top investors in the country
\nduring a very difficult period,\" Unocal Indonesia's public
\nrelations coordinator Erwin Lebe said in a statement on Saturday.<\/p>\n
He said chairman of the board and chief executive officer
\n(CEO) Roger C. Beach, accompanied by, among others, the president
\nof Unocal Indonesia Brian W. G. Marcotte, paid a courtesy call on
\nPresident Abdurrahman Wahid on Friday to voice the company's
\ncommitment to Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The President was accompanied by Minister of Energy and
\nMineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro and the president of state
\noil and gas company Pertamina during the meeting.<\/p>\n
Unocal is locally known for its pioneering work in deepwater
\noil and gas exploration.<\/p>\n
According to Lebe, Beach explained to the President during the
\nmeeting that Unocal had started exploration work in the deepwater
\nMakassar Straits area off the East Kalimantan coast in 1996.<\/p>\n
Thus far, the company had drilled 83 deepwater wells in the
\nMakassar Straits and had made nine new discoveries including the
\nMerah Besar and West Seno oil and gas fields.<\/p>\n
As the operator, Unocal planned to develop the West Seno field
\nfor a total outlay of approximately $700 million, which would be
\nspent on the construction of facilities, including wells and
\npipelines.<\/p>\n
\"West Seno is expected to start up at the end of 2002 and to
\nproduce oil at a rate of 60,000 barrels per day,\" Beach was
\nquoted by Lebe as telling the President.<\/p>\n
He also said Unocal had discovered large gas reserves in
\nseveral structures in the Makassar Straits.<\/p>\n
The gas reserves, which are estimated at between four and 10
\ntrillion cubic feet (tcf), would be supplied to feed the planned
\nTrain I or the ninth train of the liquefied natural gas (LNG)
\nplant in the Badak area of Bontang, East Kalimantan.<\/p>\n
The Badak LNG plant, which is the country's largest LNG
\ncomplex, thus far has eight LNG trains with an annual output
\ncapacity of approximately 21 million tons.<\/p>\n
Aside from Unocal, the LNG plant receives gas supplies from
\nTotal Indonesie, a subsidiary of French oil and gas company
\nTotalFina, and from American oil and gas firm Vico.<\/p>\n
Unocal said that it expected Train I to start up in mid-2005.<\/p>\n
Beach also said that Unocal was interested in the country's
\ngeothermal resources as an alternative for power generation and
\nhad developed a 330-Megawatt (MW) geothermal plant at Salak
\nmountain in West Java together with Pertamina and state
\nelectricity company PT PLN.<\/p>\n
\"Unocal encourages the use and development of this resource
\nthat is a unique feature of Indonesia among the countries of the
\nworld,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Analysts say Indonesia has huge geothermal resources which
\ncould potentially produce 19,000 MW but thus far only a fraction
\nof the resources have been developed.<\/p>\n
According to Lebe, during the meeting Beach also called on the
\ngovernment to provide security for the country's oil and gas
\nindustry so as to improve confidence among foreign investors.
\n(jsk)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/unocal-invests-us15-billion-over-five-years-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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