Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 30 -- ExxonMobil Corp. has officially advised Indonesia of its desire for a 10-month delay for oil production from the Cepu block in Central Java from its initial target of first quarter 2009.
"They have problems with land clearance and locations of oil drilling in a residential area and rice fields. Therefore, they have asked for a delay of production for 10 months," said Kardaya Warnika, head of upstream oil and gas regulatory body BP Migas.
Warnika told the Energy and Mineral Resources Commission of Indonesia's House of Representatives that other problems facing ExxonMobil include a change in the design of the oil field development from the previous design due to the number of fields involved. "A number of fields have been transferred to the state-owned oil company Pertamina," he said.
However, Kardaya said BP Migas had asked ExxonMobil to produce oil in the first quarter of 2009 by utilizing production facilities owned by the Joint Operating Body (JOB) of Pertamina-PetroChina East Java Ltd.
He said JOB's location is close to Bayu Urip oil field, which will be jointly operated by ExxonMobil through its subsidiary Mobil Cepu Ltd. (MCL) and Pertamina subsidiary PT Pertamina EP Cepu.
"At present, MCL is studying matters that could allow it to hasten the oil production," he said.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].
