Petronas wants Kutai Basin properties as part of the planned Eni tie up

A senior executive at Malaysian state energy firm Petronas said Tuesday that it wants to include oil projects in Indonesia's Kutai Basin as part of its joint venture with Eni.

Petronas, the Italian oil giant and other upstream assets will be managed by the joint venture in Indonesia and Malaysia. The combined reserves are estimated at 3 billion barrels equivalent to oil (boe), with additional reserves that could reach 10 billion boe.

Reporters on the sidelines the Indonesia Petroleum Association Conference were told by Petronas Vice President responsible for international assets that the companies are currently in discussions over the assets to be managed by this venture.

Mohd Redhani Abdul Rahman stated that Petronas aims to swap its interests in assets in Malaysia and Indonesia for Eni's Kutai Basin blocks.

He said that the idea was to complement Eni's portfolio. We will then be a part of the development of all discoveries in the Kutai Basin, using the funds we receive from the assets that we bring from Indonesia and Malaysia.

A spokesperson for Eni said that the company could not comment immediately.

The Italian group has assets in the Kutai Basin, including developments at Northern and GendaloGandang Hubs which contain massive gas reserves.

Redhani stated that the talks on which assets would be included in this venture are still at an early stage. He added that Petronas won't include Indonesian assets recently awarded to it, like the Binaiya or Serpang blocks. (Reporting and writing by Bernadette Cristina Munthe, Fransiska Nangoy, Florence Tan and David Goodwin)

(source: Reuters)