U.S. oil firm wins tender RI oil

U.S. oil firm wins tender RI oil

U.S.-based Galaxy Oil won on Tuesday the bid to sell 250,000
barrels of crude oil per day from the Duri oil field in Riau and
another 250,000 barrels of condensate oil per day from Senipah
oil field in East Kalimantan.

"The company won the two tenders with the price of 86 U.S.
cents above the Indonesian Crude Price (ICP) for both products,"
Oil and gas upstream regulatory agency (BP Migas)'s head of
marketing and trading Djoko Harsono said on Tuesday.

He said the price was nearly 20 percent better than he had
expected.

The ICP is the basic crude oil price for Indonesia which is
currently around $37 per barrel.

The oil is part of the government's stakes in the two oil
fields, where production is to start in February. The bid itself
took place last week. The contract will be for the next six
months.

Duri field is currently operated by PT Caltex Pacific
Indonesia, a subsidiary of U.S.-based ChevronTexaco, while
Senipah field is under the operation of Total Indonesie, a
subsidiary of French oil giant Total.

Galaxy is a new player in Indonesia, as the company mostly
operates in Romania and Germany, but is well-known for its
production of coalbed methane.

According to Djoko, the company has a good track record and
almost 50 percent of its shares belong to Itochu, a major
Japanese mining company.

"The company won the tender because it offered a better price
compared to the other 35 companies in the open bid. Almost all
major players participated in the bid, but they could not compete
with Galaxy's price," he added. -- JP