ChevronTexaco sells share of Thai exploration block to Mitsui

Typography
An affiliate of U.S. oil company ChevronTexaco announced Monday it will sell a share of an offshore oil exploration block in the Gulf of Thailand to Japan's Mitsui Oil Exploration Co.

BANGKOK, Thailand — An affiliate of U.S. oil company ChevronTexaco announced Monday it will sell a share of an offshore oil exploration block in the Gulf of Thailand to Japan's Mitsui Oil Exploration Co.


Chevron Offshore (Thailand) Ltd. announced that the Thai government had given it permission to sell a 25 percent share of the G4/43 block covering approximately 3,840 square miles in the northern part of the gulf.


Chevron said in a statement that during the period the sale to Mitsui was being formalized, two exploration wells in the block found oil and gas, although in quantities not yet provably commercial.


Chevron is the operator of the shallow water block, which was awarded in July 2003 to Chevron and Thailand's PTTEP International Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of PTT Exploration and Production PCL, the exploration arm of Thailand's state oil company.


Mitsui's purchase will come out of Chevron's original 85 percent holding, leaving the U.S. company with a 60 percent share, while PTTEP International retains its original 15 percent holding. The announcement did not say when the sale would be completed.


ChevronTexaco holds several offshore blocks in the Gulf of Thailand in both Thai and Cambodian waters. Its Thai concession block B8/32 holds several producing fields, with a production rate of approximately 48,000 barrels of oil per day in 2003, making it Thailand's largest oil producer, Chevron said.


Source: Associated Press