Indonesia's Cepu block starts oil production
11/12/2008 15:29
The Cepu block in East and Central Java started producing crude oil
yesterday, which is expected to reach 20,000 barrels a day in the first half of
2009, according to ExxonMobil, developer of the block.
The new output came as
Indonesia is struggling to boost its dwindling oil production due to aging wells
and lack of investment, back to more than one million barrels a day.
The full
production of the block was hoped to be 165,000 barrels per day, spokesperson of
ExxonMobil Deva Rahman told Xinhua.
The US company ExxonMObil owns a 45
percent stake in the block, Indonesia's state-owned PT Pertamina holds another
45 percent of the equity, and several companies owned by the local governments
hold the remaining 10 percent.
The block is estimated to contain 600 million
barrels of oil reserves.
Rising Indonesian economic activities lead to the
rise of demand for energy, particularly oil, whose production has been declining
to below one million barrels a day since February, turning Indonesia into a net
oil importer and forcing it to give up the OPEC membership next
month.
Xinhua
|
