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