Genting unit signs exploration pact

Genting unit signs exploration pact

Dow Jones
Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia's Genting Bhd. late on Friday said its unit Sanyen
Oil & Gas Ltd. signed a 30-year production sharing contract with
Indonesia's BP Migas for the Anambas Block.

The Anambas Block is over 3,200 square kilometers in size and
is located within the natural gas-prone area of West Natuna in
Indonesia, Genting said in a statement to Bursa Malaysia.

Genting said Sanyen will hold a 100 percent stake in the Ambas
production sharing contract.

"The work program for the first three years of the exploration
period of this production sharing contract will include the
acquisition of new 3D seismic data and the drilling of one
exploration well," Genting said.

BP Migas is the Executive Agency for Upstream Oil and Gas
Business in Indonesia.

Rachmat Sudibyo, the head of BP Migas confirmed the signing.
However, he failed to give details on how much production split
for Sanyen.

"The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources negotiated the
deal," Rachmat told The Jakarta Post.

Anambas block had been offered to investors through direct
offering instead of open bidding.

Direct offering to investors is one of the government program
to attract more investors into oil and gas exploration in a bid
to lift sagging crude output.

Indonesia's crude output now stands 1.072 million barrels a
day, lower than output quota set by the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Country (OPEC). Indonesia is the only southeast Asian
countries in OPEC's membership.

The government has just launched an open bidding for 10 oil
and gas acreages in June. Bidding result will be announced in
October followed by contract signing.