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.