BP Migas approves Cepu Block working plan

Indonesia's upstream oil and gas regulatory body BP Migas has approved the working plan proposed by ExxonMobil Corp. and state-run PT Pertamina for development of the offshore Cepu Block.

June 6, 2006

Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent

LOS ANGELES, June 6 – Indonesia's upstream oil and gas regulatory body BP Migas has approved the working plan proposed by ExxonMobil Corp. and state-run PT Pertamina for development of the offshore Cepu Block.

ExxonMobil and Pertamina are soon expected to open drilling tenders starting with 37 wells in Banyu Urip oil field, believed to be the largest on the block.

In April 2001, ExxonMobil said that Mobil Cepu Ltd., an affiliated company, had a major oil discovery at the Banyu Urip No. 3 (BU-3) well. It said with estimated reserves of more than 250 million bbl, the BU-3 well is one of the most significant oil discoveries in Indonesia in the past decade (OGJ Online, Apr. 12, 2001).

In March, Pertamina Pres. Ari Soemarno said Pertamina would sign an agreement with ExxonMobil Indonesia for operation of the block (OGJ Online, Mar. 13, 2006).

Pertamina and ExxonMobil each have a 45% share of the Cepu project with the remaining 10% held by the Central Java and East Java administrations.

Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].