Indonesian oil explorer invites Filipino firms for Kalimantan project
Indonesian oil explorer invites Filipino firms for Kalimantan project
MANILA (AFP): Petrocorp Exploration Indonesia Ltd. is inviting
Filipino firms to take part in an exploration project in the
Karang Besar area off east Kalimantan, an official of one of the
local companies said yesterday.
Walter Brown, general-manager of Palawan Oil and Gas
Exploration, said his company and about six other Philippine
firms are being asked to participate in the new project.
Palawan Oil vice president Gregorio Yu told the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday that the company is
negotiating for a 30 percent stake in the venture but gave no
other details.
Brown said Petrocorp, a subsidiary of Fletcher Challenge
Petroleum of New Zealand, is set to get permission this month for
the project from Pertamina, the state enterprise with exclusive
authority to mine oil and gas in Indonesia.
Palawan Oil, a publicly listed firm, was part of a consortium
that drilled the Maratua area in Indonesia early last month, but
abandoned the project after discovering that the Tanjung Batu-1
oil well was dry.
Meanwhile, oil explorer Philodrill Corp. reported to the SEC
yesterday a 98 percent drop in net income to only 612,000 pesos
(US$22,000) during the first quarter of 1994.
Company officials attributed the decline to rising cost of
operations in the West Linapacan offshore production site in
Palawan province which has been reduced by water seepage.
Philodrill has a four percent stake in a consortium drilling
the West Linapacan site.
Total revenues during the first three months of 1994 also
tumbled 70 percent to 15.68 million pesos, Philodrill said in
papers submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the
government's corporate watchdog.
Operating costs and expenses totaled 15.07 million pesos, the
company said.
Another oil firm Trans-Asia Oil and Mineral Development Corp.
reported a 60 percent increase in profits to 12.4 million pesos
in 1993, while total revenues climbed 20 percent to 21.2 million
pesos during the same period.
No first quarter figures were released.