AWE says Ande Ande Lumut venture attracts potential partners

Australia-listed AWE Ltd. said its Ande Ande Lumut oil project, off Indonesia, has attracted interest from Asian investors.

AWE Managing Director Bruce Clement was quoted by a media as saying that the company plans to sell as much as 50 percent stake in the oil project late in the first half of 2013.

The company in January acquired from Malaysia ?s Genting Bhd. two Indonesian oil blocks, including Ande Ande Lumut, which has an estimated 76 million barrels of recoverable heavy oil. The Ande Ande Lumut is located within the North West Natuna block in the Natuna Sea.

?We?ve had a number of companies approach us and there?s a lot of interest from regional players, both Australian and Asian-based companies,? Clement was quoted as saying Thursday. ?There aren?t that many undeveloped oil fields like this with an opportunity to get in at a very early stage of development??

AWE said in January that it expected a final investment decision at the end of 2012 on the development of Ande Ande Lumut after agreeing to pay $39 million to buy output-sharing contracts from Kuala Lumpur based Genting and assume $100 million in loans and receivables.

A decision to go ahead with the oil project in the middle of 2013 or early in the third quarter of next year will allow time to carry out engineering and design work and get regulatory approvals, Clement said.(*)