INDONESIA - South-East Sumatra - CNOOC Venture.

In January 2002, the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC Ltd), bought almost all the Indonesian assets of Repsol-YPF for $585m. The unit price CNOOC paid was about $1.60/b oe. (The only asset Repsol has since kept in Indonesia is its 25% state in a JOB with Petramina at the Jambi-Merang gas field - see above). Thus, CNOOC became the biggest offshore oil producer in Indonesia, with an output averaging about 125,000 b/d concentrated off South-East Sumatra. On Sept. 26, 2002, CNOOC signed a $500m, 25-year contract to buy 2.6m t/y of LNG from BP's Tangguh project in West Papua (formerly known as Irian Jaya). CNOOC's acquired assets are: a 65.34% stake in the South-East Sumatra (SES) PSC, 36.72% in the offshore North-West Java PSC, 25% in the West Madura PSC, 50% in the Poleng PSC, and 16.7% in the Blora PSC - with Pertamina's being one of the partners in all of them.

Repsol had acquired these SES assets from Maxus, part of YPF of Argentina which the Spanish major had bought in 1999. The assets feature the Widuri system, where two major oilfields have been producing since late 1990 together with smaller structures. Intan and Widuri were found in the 1980s by Maxus. With Widuri brought on stream in late 1990, their combined capacity was to be expanded eventually to more than 250,000 b/d. Widuri alone produces about 70,000 b/d. Widuri oil is waxy but with low sulphur suitable for direct burning by power plants in Japan and other markets. CNOOC's other field, Cinta and satellite structures together produce about 35,000 b/d. A processing complex takes the output from more than 60 wells on seven remote-production platforms. Then the crude stream is pumped to an old converted floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessel. This area's proven oil reserves have been estimated at 235m barrels. CNOOC produces another 20,000 b/d from a North-West Java offshore field, found by Maxus. In 1991-95, Maxus had drilled 39 exploration wells in Indonesia and had made nine discoveries.

In Jan. 2003 CNOOC contracted Singapore-based Tanker Pacific to a new FSO vessel to replace the existing Cinta Natomas, which is to be returned to Pertamina once the new unit has been installed, under a lease agreement for more than ten years starting from mid-2003. But the replacement, in a water depth of 38 metress, might take longer for TP to execute. TP's work is also to connect the new vessel to a pipeline end manifold.

AMEC in late 2002 got the FEED contract for development of the Banuwati gas field and satellite structures on one of the SES offshore blocks. The development concept calls for offshore facilities comprising a six-legged central production and processing platform; a 16-inch wet gas marine pipeline from the new platform (designated Banuwati-B) and the Zelda PC platform; and eight-inch wet gas intrafield lines at the producing Zelda field. Water depths in the area average 30 metres.

Gas from Banuwati will be exported to Java through a new 20-inch pipeline from Pabelokan Island, which is the operational nucleus of the SES system. Initial gas production and deliveries to Java will average 100 MCF/d. The project will also require new onshore gas receiving and processing facilities to be constructed at Teluk Banten near to the existing plants. Negotiations for a long-term gas sales agreement with the state's PGN are continuing. A successful deal could lead to the exploitation of 600 BCF of proven but not yet booked reserves on this PSC. CNOOC's partners in this PSC are Paladin Resources and Pertamina.Additional infrastructure needed shortly by CNOOC for the SES blocks includes a gas handling module and new pipelines for the Widuri oilfield.

In the offshore West Madura block, where the operator is Kodeco Energy of South Korea, with CNOOC having a 25% stake, an important discovery was made in mid-2002. A wildcat at the Kujung 3 Fm yielded 2,400 b/d of oil and 1.7 MCF/d of gas. In 2001 three successful wells - KE 23-1, KE 13-1 & KE 24-1 - flowed a combined 6,300 b/d of oil and 30.1 MCF/d of gas from the same Fm. In Dec. 2002, Kodeco's KE 40-2 appraisal, drilled to 2,206m, encountered 53m of gas pay in the Kujung 1 carbonate reef build up and 8.6m of oil pay in the Kujung 3 limestones. A drillstem test on the latter Fm produced 1,430 b/d of oil and 6.86 MCF/d of gas through a one-inch choke. The field will be development for oil to be exported and the gas to be sold on Java island.

Java, with a population of 122m (Japan has 120m), is by far the biggest market in Indonesia for gas and power. It is acutely short of both as this is where about half the country's large and medium-sized businesses are located. Businesses are queuing for new gas supplies from both nearby and distant producers, with the domestic price ranging between $2-3/m BTU. Some fertilisers plants and other industries are paying below $2/m BTU. Older contracts have been fixed at even lower long-term gas prices. Local and foreign E&P investors are eager to see the gas and power tariffs de-regulated - hence higher prices - so that they pour capital into rapid field developments to pump additional gas supplies to Java (see DT No. 9).