Oil output off Timor to start

Oil output off Timor to start

TOKYO (Reuters): Production at two oil fields off Timor will
start in July once remodeling of a floating production, storage
and offloading (FPSO) unit for the project is finished in May,
the FPSO operator said on Monday.

Operator Modec Inc. last year won a contract from Australia's
BHP Petroleum Pty. Ltd. to refurbish an old floating platform for
use at the Elang and Kakatua oil fields, a Modec spokesman said.

Modec is a wholly owned marine engineering subsidiary of
Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd.

BHP Petroleum, a subsidiary of Broken Hill Pty. Co. Ltd., will
operate the offshore project.

Output from the two oil fields, which lie between Australia
and Indonesia, is expected to total 325,000 barrels per day, the
Modec spokesman said.