INDONESIA SOON TO SEE SURGE OF EXPLORATION

Oil and gas exploration in Indonesia continues to gather momentum.

Indonesia's state owned Pertamina has signed five more production sharing contracts with foreign oil companies, committing their affiliates to combined spending of at least $225.5 million on exploration during the next 10 years.

The signings covered four new exploration areas and replacement of a contract of work in another area with a production sharing contract. That brought to 16 the number of production sharing contracts awarded this year by Pertamina. Seventeen new contracts were signed in all of 1990, Pertamina said.

Meanwhile, one of the companies awarded a production sharing contract, PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia, gauged an oil discovery in North Central Sumatra's Riau province,

PRODUCTION SHARING CONTRACTS

Under production sharing contract work commitments:

Caltex agreed to spend $39.5 million off and on the island of Nias on the 16,000 sq km Nias block, west of the main island of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean.
Muriah Shell BV, a unit of Shell Petroleum Mij. of Netherlands, agreed to spend at least $75 million on the 14,300 sq km Muriah block in the Java Sea,
Lasmo Cumi Cumi Ltd., a unit of Lasmo plc of the U.K., agreed to spend $34 million on the 4,970 sq km Cumi Cumi block in the West Natuna Sea.
Sceptre Resources Bentu, a unit of Sceptre Resources Ltd., Calgary, agreed to spend $39 million on the onshore 3,450 sq km Bentu Segat block in Riau province.

OTHER CALTEX ACTION

Caltex's 1 Tegar wildcat on the Rokan block flowed at a combined rate of 1,100 b/d of oil through a 1/2 in. choke from three Lower Miocene Menggala zones at 6,022-6,489 ft.

It was drilled to 7,088 ft in basement. Caltex is evaluating development prospects.

The discovery is in the Central Sumatra basin 78 km northwest of Pekanbaru and 2 km east southeast of Pudu field. Duri field, site of the world's largest steamflood operations, is 18 km northeast of 1 Tegar.

Pertamina and Caltex replaced a contract of work with a production sharing contract that extends until 2013 their joint operation of the 8,314 sq km onshore Siak area in Riau province.

Under the new contract, CPI agreed to a total financial commitment the next 10 years of $38 million.

The joint operation produces about 5,000 b/d of oil from six fields.

With Caltex's two latest production sharing contracts, the jointly owned affiliate of Chevron Corp. and Texaco Inc. increased its acreage holdings in Sumatra to more than 47,000 sq km.