BPMIGAS warns Statoil and Pertamina over Karama block

By Godang Sitompul

Upstream authority BPMIGAS Thursday called on Norwegian firm Statoil and state owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina to fulfill its commitment of drilling one more well in Karama deepwater block in the Makassar Strait.

Haposan Napitupulu, Planning Deputy at BPMIGAS, warned that if the firms fail to fulfill the commitment by the end of this year, they have to return the block to the government.

?They still have a commitment to drill another well that has yet to be fulfilled. They thus have two choices: Either they drill the well before returning the block to the government or pay fines,? Haposan said.

The well is the third both companies have committed to drill. ?They are supposed to drill the third well this year,? he added.

The block is 51 percent owned by Statoil, 49 percent by Pertamina.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon