Caltex to work oil block in N. Sumatra

Caltex to work oil block in N. Sumatra

JAKARTA: Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil company, will partner an Indonesian company to operate the Kisaran oil prospect in North Sumatra, a company official said.

PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia, a unit of Chevron, and its partner may have an equal share in the area, Wahyudin Yudiana Ardiwinata, Caltex's president-director, told reporters in Jakarta on Monday. The companies are waiting for the oil regulator to approve the partnership, he said, without identifying the Indonesian partner.

"We will still be the operator of the block," Yudiana said in Jakarta. "We'll start drilling next year to determine the actual amount of oil and gas in the block."

Indonesia, with the second-lowest output among members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is struggling to find reserves to replace aging fields and increase output that has fallen by more than 5 percent a year in the past five years. -- Bloomberg