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.