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