YPF-Maxus enjoys big output in SE Sumatra

JAKARTA (JP): Oil and gas company YPF-Maxus achieved on Tuesday a landmark in its operations in the country, reaching a cumulative output of one billion barrels of crude oil at its offshore block in Southeast Sumatra.

The general manager of the company, Curtis W. Murray, said the company was delighted with the achievement and would continue its commitment to Indonesia despite the economic and political crises.

"We now look forward to the challenges which lie ahead this year and beyond. Our current commitment to Indonesia is to continue searching for and developing natural resources, not only in this concession block, but we will also continue to look for investment opportunities in new blocks," Murray said in a speech read out by the company's vice president for finance planning and control, Robert Dean Galloway, during the ceremony to mark the production of the one billionth barrel of oil.

The event was celebrated in a modest ceremony at the company's base of operations on Pabelokan Island, about 70 kilometers north of Jakarta.

Minister of Mines and Energy Kuntoro Mangkusubroto and the president of state oil and gas company Pertamina, Martiono Hadianto, were scheduled to attend the ceremony but were forced to cancel because of bad weather.

Murray said the Southeast Sumatra block was currently the country's largest offshore producer of crude oil with an output of approximately 150,000 barrels per day (bpd).

Data from Pertamina shows the block is also one of the most efficient oil blocks with an average oil production cost of US$3.43 per barrel.

The production sharing contract (PSC) for the 11,044 kilometer block was signed in 1968 and extended in Sept. 1998 for another 20 years.

The block was originally owned by the Independent Indonesian American Petroleum Company, but was acquired by the American- based Maxus in 1987. Maxus was bought by YPF, Argentina's former state oil and gas company, in 1995. The acquisition led to the transfer of all of Maxus' properties in Indonesia to YPF.

Today, the block is 45.67 percent owned by YPF-Maxus Southeast Sumatra.

The remaining shares are owned by Inpex Sumatra Ltd., which holds 13.06 percent of the block; YPF Sumatera Tenggara B.V. with 10 percent; Cieco Sumatra Inc. with 8.9 percent; Daminex Sumatra Oil Gmbh, which holds 5 percent; Repsol Exploration Sunda B.V. with 5 percent; Repsol (Sumatra) Exp. & Prod., which owns 4.8 percent; Warrior International Corp. with 3.7 percent; Paladin UK (South East Sumatra) Ltd. with 2 percent; and Alberta Ltd., which holds 1.6 percent.

Production began in 1971 at the block's Cinta oil field, which currently produces 12,000 bpd.

The company discovered the Intan field in 1987, which today has an output of 13,000 bpd.

In 1988, it discovered its largest field, Widuri, which currently produces 95,000 bpd.

The company's district manager for the south, John Sitinjak, said the block reached its peak production of 250,000 bpd in 1991.

He said the block had proven oil reserves of 400 million barrels and proven gas reserves of 300 billion cubic feet.

Murray said the company was marketing the block's gas and he hoped it would be able to transport gas from the block to customers in Jakarta and West Java starting in late 2001.

Aside from the Southeast Sumatra block, YPF-Maxus also operates and owns 45 percent of the South Sokang PSC block east of Natuna Island in the South China Sea.

It also has a 16.7 percent stake in the Blora PSC production block in Central Java, which is operated by Coparex, and a 25 percent stake in the West Madura PSC block operated by South Korea's Kodeco. It also holds a 50 percent stake in the Poleng technical assistance contract offshore block in East Java. (jsk)