An Indonesian plantation company has filed the first patent applications for a hybrid variety of palm oil seeds and their production that it expects will increase the crop's yield by several hundred per cent.

Indonesia yesterday said it would seize Asia's largest undeveloped gas block from ExxonMobil and ask Pertamina, the state-owned energy group, to prepare a feasibility study to take over the field. The latest move in a three-year dispute between Jakarta and the US energy group was made after talks with Exxon about the Natuna D-Alpha field became deadlocked over tax issues, the extension of a contract and how to split the gas, said Purnomo Yus-giantoro, Indonesia's energy minister.