Unocal develops Mahoni

JAKARTA (JP): American oil and gas company Unocal Indonesia has initiated oil production at its Mahoni field in Balikpapan Bay, East Kalimantan.

The company said in a statement that it is producing 4,700 barrels of oil per day (bpd) from one well in the field and is planning to increase the output by developing another three wells there by year-end.

The Mahoni field, which was discovered in 1999, is actually a marginal field, but Pertamina has provided incentives to make the development of the field economically viable, Unocal said.

"New, accelerated production from fields like Mahoni has a particularly significant positive impact for Indonesia during this time of high oil prices and it helps to meet the OPEC quota," the company said.

The government has been providing incentives for oil contractors to develop marginal fields across the country to raise the country's oil output as demanded by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

OPEC urged its members to raise output by 800,000 barrels per day starting Oct. 1 to curb the oil price hike, with Indonesia asking to raise output by 41,000 bpd. (jsk)