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PT Energi Mega Persada (EMP), the second largest publicly
listed oil and gas firm in the country, has targeted its huge Kangean
gas block in East Java to start production in 2010.
Investor relations head Herwin Wahyu Hidayat told The Jakarta Post on
Monday that Terang, Sirasun and Batur fields -- all located in the
block -- were expected to start commercial production in the first
quarter of 2010 at a rate of some 300 million cubic feet of gas per day.
The projected output will significantly increase the company's current
production rate of 60 mcfd.
Kangean, one of EMP's seven oil and gas blocks in Indonesia, has
potential natural gas reserves of 1.5 trillion cubic feet, among the
largest in the world.
"The fields' big potential is the one factor that has attracted other
investors, like Mitsubishi, to jointly operate the block," Herwin said.
Earlier this year, EMP sold 50 percent of its stakes in the block to a
consortium of Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation and Japex Petroleum
Exploration.
The block has recently resumed oil production at a rate of 3,500
barrels of oil per day, after technical problems at its storage units
led to a six-month halt.
Herwin said the company had replaced the storage facility with a new
one that offered a bigger storage capacity of 230,000 barrels.
The company is hoping to gradually increase output to 5,000 bpd by
December, which would account for almost 25 percent of EMP's total oil
production.
EMP produced a total of 3.9 million barrels of oil last year, down from
2005's 4.1 million barrels.
EMP is owned by the Bakrie Group, which is associated with the
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare, Aburizal Bakrie.
Earlier this year, EMP sold its entire stakes in Lapindo Brantas Inc --
the operator of the troubled Lapindo block in East Java, where a
torrent of hot mud has continued to gush since May last year,
inundating surrounding villages and leaving some 13,000 people homeless.
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