A story in Upstream magazine immediately attracted the attention of people in the oil business. In its January edition, it reported that there were an estimated 2 billion barrels of oil reserves in fields in Cepu, Central Java. Further good news, according to Upstream, was that Cepu could produce at least 300 million barrels.

At first, the news was received with skepticism, because Cepu had been declared a marginal field with hardly any produc