Mobil ups Indonesia reserve estimate

Mobil ups Indonesia reserve estimate

FAIRFAX, Virginia (Reuters): Mobil Corp. said yesterday that reserve estimates at its Greater Merah Besar field, offshore East Kalimantan, had been increased to 190 million barrels of oil after drilling two new exploration wells.

Hitam Besar-2 and Hijau Besar-3 confirmed the presence of significant oil and natural gas potential in the deepwater area of the Mahakam Delta which is covered by the Makassar Strait Production Sharing Contract, Mobil said in a statement.

Mobil said that a second rig has been brought in which will continue to appraise the Greater Merah Besar structure and drilling for production could start as early as 2001.

"We are very encouraged by our early exploration success offshore East Kalimantan and several additional prospects have been identified on the Makassar acreage, some potentially larger than Merah Besar. Our plans are to drill these prospects while appraising the Merah Besar field," Mobil said.

Mobil has 50 percent working interest and Unocal Corp., the operator of the block, the remainder.

Mobil also has an agreement with Unocal for a 30 percent interest in the Rapak block which is located to the north of and adjacent to the Makassar Strait PSC.

Mobil said that Rapak represents additional prospective acreage in the same hydrocarbon bearing trend as the Makassar block and presents further opportunities for growth.