Medco Energi buys oil firm for $30m

Medco Energi buys oil firm for $30m

SINGAPORE: PT Medco Energi Internasional, Indonesia's largest publicly traded oil company, said it bought for US$29.7 million a local company that holds exploration and production rights in South Kalimantan.

Medco Far East Ltd. acquired Perkasa Equatorial Sembakung Ltd. on Sept. 23, Medco said in an e-mailed statement on Friday. Perkasa Equatorial is a unit of Synergy Petroleum Ltd., a Mauritius-registered company, it said.

Perkasa Equatorial's Sembakung oil field has proven and probable oil reserves of 12.6 million barrels as of January 2005, Medco said. Average daily oil output for the six months ended June 30 was 5,000 barrels.

The acquisition of Perkasa Equatorial is part of Medco's plan to replace and add new oil and gas reserves and the purchase will raise its reserves and output, the company said.

Medco aims to produce 57,000 barrels of crude oil a day this year, compared with 57,370 barrels a day last year, because of depleting reserves at older oil fields, Chief Executive Hilmi Panigoro said on Sept. 8. -- Bloomberg