[Kabar-indonesia] Inpex, RI, Australia may reach gas accord: Minister [+Berau, Total]

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

also: Indonesian investor buys Berau, repays debt-source
and Total buys 49 pct stake in Indonesian offshore block

Inpex, Indonesia, Australia may reach gas accord, minister says 

SYDNEY, Aug. 1 (Bloomberg): Inpex Holdings Inc., Japan's largest oil 
explorer, 
will probably reach an accord with Indonesia and Australia for the processing 
of natural gas from its Abadi field in the Timor Sea, said an Australian 
minister.

Gas from the field, which lies in Indonesian waters, may be processed into 
liquefied natural gas in Darwin, Kon Vatskalis, minister for mines and energy in 
Australia's Northern Territory, said Tuesday.

The Indonesian government realizes that gas from the field would be more 
easily 
sent to Australia than Indonesia for processing, he said, citing talks with 
ministers and officials.

Inpex plans to drill an appraisal well at Abadi, which lies 400 kilometers 
(249 miles) north of Darwin and holds an estimated 5 trillion cubic feet of gas, 
later this year, the Northern Territory government said in June. 
ConocoPhillips started up a A$1.6 billion (US$1.2 billion) LNG plant in Darwin, capital of 
the Northern Territory, in the first quarter.

"I wouldn't be surprised if things move very quickly," Vatskalis said in an 
interview during an oil and gas conference in Sydney.

"The reality is that if Abadi is not developed Indonesia is going to miss 
out. Inpex is very interested in developing Abadi, there is already an LNG plant 
in northern Australia. Why should they take the gas somewhere else?"

Sean Kildare, a spokesman for Tokyo-based Inpex in Perth, couldn't be 
immediately reached for comment.

ConocoPhillips, the third-largest U.S. oil company, may already be designing 
an expansion of its 3.24 million metric tons-a-year Darwin LNG plant, which 
may start construction as early as next year, Vatskalis said, citing speculation 
in Darwin.

Gas may be supplied for the expansion from Woodside Petroleum Ltd.'s Sunrise 
gas field, or from Caldita, the minister said. Santos Ltd. is a partner in the 
plant.

ConocoPhillips may spend as much as $10 billion to more than double capacity 
at its Darwin LNG plant, and may subsequently consider building a third 
production unit, Laura Sugg, president of the Houston-based company's Australian 
unit, said in June. TheWickham Point site in Darwin has approval for as much as 
10 million tons-a-year of production. 

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Indonesian investor buys Berau, repays debt-source

SINGAPORE, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Indonesian businessman Rizal Risjad has taken 
over PT Berau Coal, the country's fourth-largest coal company, in the largest 
private buyout of an unlisted company in Southeast Asia, a person close to the 
matter said on Tuesday.

Using $279 million in financing arranged by U.S. investment bank Merrill 
Lynch, Risjad bought out four other Indonesian parties in Berau and repaid its 
debt owed to U.S. hedge fund Farallon Capital, the source told Reuters.

The financing is comprised of a three-year senior loan of $39.5 million and 
$239.5 million in mezzanine financing -- debt facilities that can be converted 
into equities, the source said.

Under the deal signed last week, Rizal boosted its stake in Berau to 90 
percent from more than 9 percent, he said.

Japan's Sojitz retains its 10 percent stake in Berau, which has an annual 
capacity of 11 million tonnes of coal mainly exported to major power utilities in 
Hong Kong, southern China's Guangdong province and India, he said. 

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Total buys 49 pct stake in Indonesian offshore block

PARIS, Aug 1 (Reuters) - French oil major Total SA has acquired a 49 percent 
stake in Indonesia's offshore East Sepanjang block, northeast of Java, with an 
option to acquire an additional 41 percent interest later, it said on Tuesday.

A seismic survey will be conducted by year-end and an exploration well 
drilled in 2007, it said in a statement.

Total, Indonesia's leading gas producer, said it will assume operatorship of 
the block after the first three years of exploration.

It bought the stake from Indonesia's PT Easco East Sepanjang.

It produced more than 2.6 billion cubic feet per day of gas in the first-half 
of the year from Indonesia's Mahakam block which operates jointly with Inpex, 
adding output would be maintained at this level at least through 2010. 

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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