BPMIGAS recommends West Madura operatorship to Minister

Upstream oil and gas regulatory agency BPMIGAS has officially recommended state oil and gas company PT Pertamina to operate the West Madura oil and gas block, offshore East Java.

In the letter to the ministry of energy and mineral resources, BPMIGAS also proposed to increase the state oil and gas company?s participating interest in the oil block to 60 percent from 50 percent at present, BPMIGAS? spokesman Gde Pradnyana said on Thursday.

Pertamina?s partners Kodeco, China-based CNOOC, PT Sinergindo Citra Harapan and Pure Link Investment will be given 10 percent stake each.

The two recommendations, which was submitted on April 28, 2011 were issued following a meeting between the agency and existing shareholders in the block on April 13 and April 27, 2011, respectively.

BPMIGAS said that it proposed three alternatives in the operatorship of the block. The first alternative is to allow current operator South Korean company Kodeco to continue to operate the block until Dec.13, 2013 before handing over the operatorship to Pertamina (based on meeting result in April 13).

The second alternative is to appoint Pertamina as the operator immediately after the contract ends on May this year, while in the last option, Pertamina will be allowed to operate the block immediately after the current contract ends but with a probation period of three years. Pertamina can continue to operate until the new contract ends if it could pass the three-year trial operation.

BPMIGAS said that it is up to the Energy and Mineral Resources to decide but it said it preferred to choose the third option for the operatorship of the oil and gas block. (godang)