JAKARTA�Unocal Corp. has begun producing 4,700 b/d of crude oil from Mahoni field off Indonesia's Borneo Island. Production started from a single well in Balikpapan Bay, off East Kalimantan. Unocal plans to bring another three wells in the field on stream by the end of this year.
Unocal is developing the field, discovered last year, under Indonesia's new incentive scheme for the development of marginal fields.
The US company said Mahoni production will help in the effort to hike Indonesia's production an additional 41,000 b/d, as planned under the recent Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' agreement (OGJ Online, Oct. 30, 2000).
Unocal said, "New, accelerated production from fields like Mahoni has a particularly significant positive impact for Indonesia during this time of high oil prices, and it helps to meet OPEC quota."
Meanwhile, the Indonesian state oil and gas company, Pertamina, raised domestic prices of liquefied petroleum gas and lubricants by an average 40%, starting Friday.
The LPG price was raised to 2,100 rupiahs (about 23�)/kg from 1,500 rupiahs, it said, adding that international LPG prices were 2,655-3,219 rupiahs/kg last month.
Pertamina said the gap between local and international LPG prices cost it 494 billion rupiahs in the 6-month period to September.
The company noted Indonesian LPG demand in Indonesia was growing 12% a year. It added that lubricant prices also were raised because of higher raw materials costs.
