Chevron set up new unit for RI

Chevron set up new unit for RI

Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Following the recent merger of U.S. energy giants Unocal and
Chevron, the company plans to establish a new business unit to
take charge of its subsidiaries working in the upstream and
geothermal sectors in Indonesia and the Philippines.

The new unit will be called Chevron IndoAsia, said Wahyudi
Yudiana Ardiwinata, the president director of PT Caltex Pacific
Indonesia (CPI) -- a Chevron subsidiary after the merger with
Caltex -- on Tuesday.

"We have started the preparations and expect the business unit
will be established this year," he said. The downstream
businesses, such as Caltex Oil Indonesia, which sells lubricants,
would not be included in IndoAsia.

Unocal, the ninth-largest U.S. oil company, on July 20
accepted an improved takeover bid by Chevron on July 20. The bid
was worth US$17.1 billion, and followed the rejection of a higher
but politically controversial bid from state-owned China National
Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC).

Yudiana said there were no plans to merge Chevron and Unocal's
subsidiaries in Indonesia.

"The companies' core businesses are different, with CPI
concentrating on upstream onshore activities and Unocal operating
onshore and in the LNG (liquefied natural gas) business," he
said.

The subsidiaries would be able to share services with one
another under the IndoAsia umbrella, he added.

CPI is the largest oil producer in Indonesia, producing
478,000 barrels per day at present, roughly half of the country's
total oil output, from its wells across Riau province.

ChevronTexaco Energy Indonesia Ltd. operates the Darajat
geothermal power-generating operations in West Java.

Unocal, according to its website, has interests in 10
production sharing areas in Indonesia, including the deepwater
West Seno field in the Makassar strait. It also operates the
Attaka field, which supplies gas to the Badak LNG plant in
Bontang, East Kalimantan.