BP asks for contract extension

BP asks for contract extension

JAKARTA: BP Indonesia said Tuesday it would abandon plans to
invest US$400 million to develop a gasfield off East Java unless
the government agrees to extend its production-sharing contract
by 20 years.

The original contract with state-owned energy company
Pertamina for the Terang Sirasun field expires in November 2010.

"We are seeking another 20 years on top of that," BP Indonesia
president Bill Schrader told AFX-Asia, an AFP-owned financial
newswire.

Schrader said the BP Plc board would not approve the $400
million investment without a contract extension because it would
not be economically viable.

He said it would take at least three years to develop the
field and by 2010 "we would still have half of our reserves
sitting in the ground". -- AFP