The U.S. giant oil and gas company ExxonMobil has determined to negotiate with the Indonesian government about the operation contract on the gas block Natuna D Alfa, and will not bring the dispute to the international arbitration, a company's official quoted by leading Kompas daily Saturday.

"We still commit to have a negotiation," the Vice Director of the External Relation of the company Maman Bidiman said.

Maman deflected that the block has been an open area which means any other operator could enter for operation.

"If there is a statement that the Natuna block has become an open area which any operator can enter, it has never been told to us," he said.

Earlier, Indonesian Mines and Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said that the status of the block became an open area after the termination of contract of ExxonMobil on Jan. 9, 2005.

The head of oil and gas watchdog BP Migas Kardaya Warnika said that so far, the ExxonMobil could not give a proposal of contract which can benefit Indonesia.

Earlier this month Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said that the talks on operating rights for the Natuna D-Alpha gas block between the government and ExxonMobil will begin in January.

Indonesia terminated the contract with Exxon to operate the huge Natuna D-Alpha gas block in South China Sea in October last year, amid high extraction costs and a lack of buyers for the gas.

The company has disagreed on the termination and said the contract allows for two more years.

The Indonesian state-owned oil firm company Pertamina has a 24- percent stake in the Natuna D-alpha block, while Exxon has 76 percent.

The Indonesian government and Exxon Mobil signed a basic agreement in 1995.

The block contains around 222 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas, of which 46 tcf is thought to be commercially recoverable.

However, it contains high degree of carbon dioxide that has made the block expensive to develop.

Indonesia, an Asia Pacific OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) member country, is the biggest Liquefied Naturan Gas producer.

Source: Xinhua