Pertamina will not start soon

Pertamina will not start soon

Dow Jones, Baghdad

A senior Iraqi oil official Wednesday denied press reports
that Indonesia's PT Pertamina will start oil and gas exploration
in the country early next year.

"We are not aware of Pertamina's plans to start work in Iraq
early next year," the official, who specializes in oil and gas
field development, told Dow Jones Newswires.

Indonesia's national oil and gas company said last month it
had opened an office in Iraq and expected to start exploration in
the country early 2004.

Pertamina's president, Ariffi Nawawi, told reporters in
Jakarta his company would invest around $20 million during the
exploration stage.

"Any foreign company now can open offices in Iraq but that
doesn't mean it can start work," the official said.

Last year, Iraq's former government awarded Pertamina block 3
of the giant Iraqi Western Desert oil and gas fields, northwest
of Baghdad.

The block is estimated to have 3 million barrels of crude oil.

The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq delayed Pertamina's plan to
start exploration in the country last March

"The contract with Pertamina has not been canceled or
confirmed so far. It has been left as it was," the official said.

Iraq's Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum said last month that
he wanted to check the legality of the contracts signed by Saddam
Hussein's government, whether they were signed on a competitive
basis and if they meet the interests of the Iraqi people.

"After we finish this process, we will announce whether these
contracts are viable or not," he said.

But the legality of these contracts is in question, because
the deals were signed under UN sanctions. They were also signed
after direct bilateral negotiations with Saddam's government and
not after a competitive bidding process.