Unocal to invest over $4b in Asia over 5 years
Unocal to invest over $4b in Asia over 5 years
Dow Jones
Bangkok
The U.S. energy giant Unocal Corp. will spend more than US$4
billion over the next five years to expand its exploration and
production businesses in the Asia Pacific region, with Thailand
and Indonesia as its prime locations.
"Asia is an increasingly important part of Unocal over the
next 5-10 years. We continue to invest heavily in the region,"
Charles Williamson, Unocal's chairman and chief executive officer
told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview.
"Half of our capital budget over the next 5 years will be in
Asia and more investment may continue after that," he added.
Unocal's annual investment amounts to $1.7 billion to $1.8
billion.
Most of the money will go to Thailand and Indonesia for
developing oil and gas fields and increasing production volume,
Williamson said.
About half of Unocal's production comes from Asia Pacific.
Besides, energy demand growth in Asia is rapidly increasing.
"We see a terrific opportunity here in terms of growing
economies and a bunch of natural resources in the region," said
Williamson.
"Asia is a big part of our future growth. It doesn't mean that
the North America is less important but it's difficult to grow in
the mature market," he added.
Oil and natural gas production volume in Asia currently
accounts for around 41 percent of Unocal's worldwide production.
It is expected to grow to 51 percent in 2008.
Its total production volume this year is estimated at around
460,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day.
Unocal has a solid foothold in oil and gas exploration and
production in Asia, with over 40 years in the region.
A Thai unit of Unocal Friday signed a preliminary agreement
with PTT PCL, Thailand's oil and gas conglomerate, to increase
its gas volume sold to PTT and to extend two gas sale agreements
of the Erawan and Unocal 2 and 3 gas fields in the Gulf of
Thailand.
Unocal Thailand is expected to increase the gas supply volume
of those fields to 1,240 million standard cubic feet per day
(MMSCFD) over the next 10 years, from the 740 MMSCFD at present.
The plan would involve an investment of around $4 billion over
the next 7-10 years from Unocal, said Randy Howard, Unocal
Thailand's president.
"The (preliminary) agreement is an important step for us to
continue delivering gas to Thailand. Thailand will continue to
play an important role in Asia," Williamson said.
Thailand is Unocal's major gas producing venue outside the
U.S. Unocal Thailand is the country's largest gas supplier,
producing around 1.1 billion cubic feet a day of natural gas.
According to Williamson, Indonesia will play greater role for
Unocal in Asia. In the next five years, the company will pump
funds to further develop Indonesia's West Seno deepwater field.
However, he declined to elaborate the amount of investment.
The field is currently producing 17,000 barrels of oil
equivalent per day (BOED). The gross production is expected to
reach 35,000 to 45,000 BOED by the end of this year and reach to
60,000 BOED by end-2005.
Unocal's also has investments in Bangladesh, China and
Vietnam.