S Korea's Samsung signs contract to build oil facilities in Indonesia

An senior official said that the Indonesian unit of ExxonMobil Corp. has awarded contracts worth more than 780 million U.S. dollars to South Korean giant Samsung and its Indonesian partner, Tripatra Engineering, to build facilities at Cepu block, local media reported here on Wednesday.

BPMigas chairman Raden Priyono said the project would include building an oil-production facility at the oil and gas field in Central Java. The project was estimated to cost 900 million US dollars, but the consortium bid 780 million U.S. dollars.

"The tender will be completed soon, and its construction is expected to start in August this year," Piryono said on Tuesday. Tripatra is the engineering, procurement and construction services unit of Indika Energy, the nation's leading integrated energy company.

The Cepu block, located in Central Java, is operated by U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil. The field is 45 percent owned by ExxonMobil and 45 percent by state oil and gas company Pertamina, with the remaining 10 percent held by state enterprises, the Jakarta Globe reported.

Cepu's project will contain five separate units, Priyono said, including an onshore production facility, onshore pipes, offshore pipes, an offshore pile and supporting facilities such as an office building. The block is expected raise its disappointing output to 165,000 barrels of oil per day once the facilities are done in 2013.

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