TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - State-owned enterprise Pertamina CEO Elia Massa Manik said that the company is preparing itself to take over the Mahakam block in 2018.
“We will drill 15 wells to make up for the decline in production,” Elia said yesterday at Pertamina HQ in central Jakarta.
Moreover, Elia said that he has met with the management of Total E&P Indonesia, the current operator of the Mahkam block. “To observe the organization, strategy, technology and [I] have met with their employees,” he said.
Elia said that one of the key elements in the operatorship of the Mahakam block is solidarity between Pertamina and its future workers, currently serving as Total employees. “I have told my colleagues in Pertamina that our friends in Total will become part of our family. [I want] to make them will feel comfortable when they join us,” he said.
Pressed on Total E&P Indonesia’s request for 39 percent participating interest, Elia said: “We are not ‘eligible’ to comment on that,” he said.
Elia said that Pertamina management will only focus on the preparations before taking over the gas field, which is located in Kutai, East Kalimantan, as well as possible.
“Pertamina has decided that with or without Total we have to manage Mahakam properly,” he said.
CAESAR AKBAR