23 companies bidding for development of 14 oil and gas blocks

Only 14 of the 21 oil and gas blocks offered by the government in the auction, which was officially closed on Thursday, attracted bidders, according to a senior official of the ministry of energy and mineral resources.

Director for Exploration and Production, Novian M.Thalib, said the government received 28 bids from 23 local and foreign oil companies in the tender, with most of the bids coming from major oil and gas companies such as Caltex Pacific Indonesia, Anadarko, Unocal, ConocoPhillips, Petronas, CNOOC, PetroChina, Eni Lasmo, Pertamina and Medco.

He said that the North East Madura III oil block, one of the 21 oil and gas blocks offered during the auction, attracted 18 bidders, making it the most favorite oil and block in the auction.

He said that the winners would be announced in October, this year.

The oil blocks offered by the government in the tender include Lhokseumawe block on and offshore Lhokseumawe in Nangroe Aceh Darussalam; Ujungkulon block on and offshore Ujungkulon in Banten; North East Madura III, IV and V blocks offshore East Java; Rote I and II blocks offshore Rote island in East Nusa Tenggara; Babar block offshore Babar island in Maluku; Selaru block offshore Selaru island, Maluku; and Manokwari block on and offshore Berau in Papua.

The government also offered seven blocks to investors through "direct-offer" mechanism. Of the seven blocks, four are located in East Kalimantan (Nunukan, Bulungan and Ambalat blocks), and one onshore South Sumatra (Lubuk Linggau block), one in Aceh (Serpuai block), and one in Papua (Bovendigul block).(godang)