OCR Text |
Show nesian markets are supplied by companies producing there at a rate of cost plus 200/bbl. Discoveries essential. Indonesia is staking much of its future on oil. And to carry out its plans, there must be some substantial new discoveries of crude. So far, actually, little has been found offshore, but that's only because so little drilling has been done. Gen. Ibnu compares the situation to that in the North Sea 5 years ago. "It's clear," he says, "that oil is-and will continue to be-an important factor in the future economic development of Indonesia. In this, Pertamina, as the sole national oil and natural-gas state enterprise, has a prominent role. Gen. Ibnu has headed Pertamina since its inception 12 years ago. Then a colonel, he was assigned by the army to form an oil company, but was given no money to operate it. He started the operation when, with two junior army officers, he took over an abandoned Shell Oil field in North Sumatra. W h e n they opened a valve on the old pipeline, no oil flowed from it, but "a squirrel-type animal" jumped out of it. W h e n they finally did get oil flowing through the old line, "there was more oil going out through the leaks" than into the tanks. Today, Pertamina is a going and growing concern, with assets of more than $650 million. Its annual income is some $350 million-$200 million in foreign currency and $150 million in Indonesian currency. Pertamina's earnings provide about 4 8 % of the government's total revenues, and the percentage is steadily rising as production and exports escalate. In the years ahead, Gen. Ibnu sees a tremendous growth for Pertamina and for the Indonesian oil industry in general. "To help in carrying out this task, however, Pertamina will also need foreign capital, equipment and material, skill, and enterprise," the general says. That help is at hand. For the past 2 years, contract-holders have been combing their acreage with the latest in geophysical techniques, and the time for drilling has arrived. Japex Indonesia Ltd. and Atlantic Richfield's Sinclair Exploration, of course, have been doing exploratory drilling for a couple of years now, as has Japan's Kyushu Oil Co. But rigs now bearing down on Indonesia and those that will be arriving later in the year will spread the play tremendously. Kyushu has had a streak of disappointment, with 6 dry holes off the south shore of Kalimantan on its 50,- 000-sq-mile block in the Java Sea. It suspended drilling last November, and the Investigator rig left for Australian waters, but the Kyushu campaign is to resume sometime in April. Sinclair now is drilling its PSI B-3 in the vicinity of its B-2 oil discovery, after recently abandoning the PSI E-6 at 5,703 ft. So far, the company has finished three oil wells and two oil-and- gas wells on its 21,000 sq-mile block on the northern shore of Java. The total score for the E. W . Thornton catamaran rig stands at five hits out of fifteen tries-not a bad success ratio, but it also underscores the fact that exploration off Indonesia is just as risky as elsewhere. Japex, for its part, has had a series of mechanical failures on its Strait of Malacca block off northern North Sumatra. Back in late 1968, reports of oil flows from its "Idi" well series went as high as 5,500 b/d, but the company has not yet finished a commercial well out of six tries. Japex used the Fuji and Nola III rigs in this campaign. Union Oil Co. of California has just announced a new discovery at its third wildcat on its big block off western North Sumatra. The company's 1 Meulaboh 20 miles offshore in a hitherto unexplored basin flowed at about 7 M M c f d through "restricted" choke. Flow was from a Tertiary pay topped at 3,700 ft. Exact location of the strike is 3° 51' 58" N . Lat, 96° 0' 37" E. Long. It is well to the northwest of Union's two earlier tests, both dry. The discovery was drilled to total depth of 10,079 ft using the drillship Wodeco VI. Union says it may launch at least four more wildcats on its far-flung Indonesian holdings this year. Next Union target is its 3,320-sq-mile block off East Kalimantan. A newcomer to the Indonesian offshore drilling scene is the Independent Indonesian American Petroleum Co. (IIAPCO) group, whose first well, Anda 1, was dry at 1,920 ft. The company is now sinking its second test of its 48,260-sq-mile block off the coast of South Sumatra, using the Dickson M. Saunders rig. A m o n g those who plan to drill Offshore Indonesia are C O N O C O , Cities Service, the so-called Jenney group, White Shield, and the two Phillips- Agip groups. C O N O C O will bring the new Discoverer III rig into the South China Sea at midyear to test its 41,000-sq-mile block which it holds in 75-25 partnership with Getty Oil Co. Cities Service, in partnership with Ashland Oil Co., Robin Loh, and Monsanto, will spud the first test of its 56,000-sq-mile block off Northeast Java soon. It is bringing in the new Milton G. Hulme rig, and expects to bring in another rig in the last quarter of the year. The Phillips-Agip- C O N O C O team will test its 38,600-sq-mile block off the western coast of West Irian this summer, using the Glomar Conception semisubmersible rig. The Agip-Phillips-Teruieco-Frontier partnership expects to have a rig on its 44,776-sq-mile Block C in the South China Sea between Kalimantan and Malaya in the last quarter of the year. The Jenny group and Asia Oil have similar plans for their blocks. The Jenney group (Santa Fe International, 37.5%; States Marine Lines, 37.5%; Jenney Manufacturing, 12.5%, and Syracuse Oils, 12.5%) last week let contracts for an added 1,500 miles of marine seismic work on its Kari-mata block in the South China Sea between Sumatra and Kalimantan and its Mentawi block off western Sumatra. A 2,300-mile survey was completed in January. Overall, Indonesian scouts say we'll see at least 16 rigs drilling in Indonesian waters by the end of the year. Such a program, if averages hold for exploratory drilling, should certainly result in big additions to Indonesia's 18-billion-bbl reserves of crude oil. |