Petronas pays $ 170m for Kerr-McGee unit

Petronas pays $ 170m for Kerr-McGee unit

Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia's national oil company Petronas said Friday it has acquired Kerr-McGee Corp's Indonesian oil and gas unit for US$170 million.

The acquisition marked "a significant extension of Petronas's activities in Indonesia, providing it with its first oil production in the country," Petronas said in a statement.

"It also provides Petronas the opportunity to play a more active role in the supply of gas to the growing markets within Indonesia and the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region."

Kerr-McGee Indonesia Ltd. (KMI) is a subsidiary of Kerr-McGee Corp, an energy and inorganic chemical company based in Oklahoma city and listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

KMI holds a 30 percent interest in oil and gas fields in Jabung block, south Sumatra, with five fields producing some 24,000 barrels of oil per day, Petronas said.

The Jabung block has a gas sales agreement to supply gas to Singapore beginning from the third quarter of 2003 at an initial rate of 68 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) with a plateau rate of 135 mmscfd by 2009, it added.

Petronas' other interests in Indonesia are Ketapang block and Karapan block offshore of East Java and Tanjung Aru block offshore of Kalimantan.