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.