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.