Nippon finds natural gas

Nippon finds natural gas

TOKYO (Reuter): Nippon Oil Co Ltd and trading house Kanematsu
Corp said yesterday that their subsidiaries had found natural gas
deposits of more than 36 million cubic feet (1.02 million cubic
metres) per day off Indonesia.

The Wiriagar Deep Number Three test well, located in the Berau
block off Irian Jaya in Indonesia, is part of a project
considering possible commercial production of liquefied natural
gas (LNG), Nippon Oil and Kanematsu Corp said in a joint
statement.

Nippon Oil Exploration (Berau) Ltd, a Nippon Oil subsidiary,
has a 17.14 percent stake in the Berau block, while KG Berau, an
affiliate of Kanematsu Corp has 12 percent.

Other stake holders are operator Atlantic Richfield Co which
has a 48 percent stake and Occidental Petroleum Corp with 22.856
percent.

Exploratory test drilling from other wells in the Berau block
have proven natural gas reserves that could yield 30 million to
110 million cubic feet per day (850,000 to 3.12 million cubic
metres), the joint statement said.