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ublicly listed oil and gas producer PT Energy Mega Persada Tbk aims to boost its production by allocating up to US$157 million for capital expenditure in 2012.

EMP president director and CEO Imam P. Agustino said that all the expenditure was already fully funded.

“Most of the funds comes from our internal cash flow. However, for the operation in Kangean Block, we have obtained facilities from our partners Mitsubishi Corp. and Japex [Japan Petroleum Exploration],” Imam told a public expose on Thursday.

Kangean Block, located off the East Java coast, is a production sharing contract block with Mitsubishi and Japex, which own 25 percent of the working interest each.

The company has other projects in Gebang and Tonga in North Sumatra, the Malacca Strait, Sungai Gelam in Jambi, Semberah in East Kalimantan, Bentu and Korinci Baru in Riau, Masela in the Arafura Sea, Sangatta in East Kalimantan and Tabulako in South Kalimantan.

Imam said that Kangean block, EMP’s largest discovery among other oil and gas projects, would receive 50 percent of the firm’s capital expenditure.

EMP would use the expenditure to boost production of its projects to up to 50,200 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) of oil and gas per day by the end of 2012.

According to first-semester figures this year made available in the public expose, the company can produce on average 15,040 boe net per day, up from an average of 13,000 boe net per day for the full year of 2010.

Based on the report, the company recorded an income of Rp 865.55 billion ($97.50 million) in the first half of this year, a 59 percent increase from Rp 543.41 billion in the same period last year.

EMP booked a net profit of Rp 34.7 billion in the first half this year, after suffering a loss of Rp 75.38 billion in the same period in 2010.

Increasing oil and gas prices contributed to the company’s income.

The company increased its oil price by up to 41 percent to $112.2 per barrel in the first six months this year from $79.4 per barrel in the same period last year.

EMP also increased its gas price by up to 44 percent to $3.6 per million cubic feet (mmcf) from $2.5
per mmcf.

Energy Mega Persada, established in 2001, conducted its initial public offering on June 7, 2004. According to figures published on the Indonesia Stock Exchange’s website, the public owns 75.39 percent or about 30.59 billion of the company’s shares. Another 17.71 percent, or about 7.1 billion of the shares, belong to Siam Commercial BK Public Co.Ltd.HK Branch A/C Reignwood International Investment (Group) Co. Ltd. HK.

About 2.8 billion shares, or 6.9 percent, belong to the Mellon Bank NA S/A for Mackenzie Cundilll
Recovery Fund.

One of the company directors, Didit Hidayat Agripinanto, owns 1.7 million shares. (rcf)