Chevron, ConocoPhillips gets new blocks in Indonesia

The government announced on Friday the winners of the First Phase 2008 tender of 25 oil and gas exploration blocks and launched the Second Phase 2008 tender of 31 exploration blocks.

The winners include U.S. firms Chevron Corp., which got the West Papua I and West Papua III blocks, and ConocoPhillips which got the Arafura Sea block.

Director General of Oil and Gas at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Evita Legowo said of the 25 blocks offered by the ministry through direct-offer mechanism in the period of June-August 2008, only 22 had been finally awarded to investors.

She said that winners announcement for eight oil gas blocks that were offered through regular tender mechanism was delayed by several weeks due to technical reasons. She, however said the contracts of the direct offer blocks and regular blocks, along with three CBM contracts, would be signed on November 13, 2008.

Evita also said the ministry is offering 31 new exploration blocks in the Second Phase 2008 tender. Of the 31 blocks, 16 are offered through a regular tender mechanism and the other 15 through a direct offer tender mechanism.(Godang/Bernard)

I. Exploration blocks winners

No	Block	Location	Contractor (s)
1	East Seruway	Offshore North Sumatra	Serica East Seruway BV
2	South CPP	Onshore Central Sumatra	Ranhill Energy Sdn Bhd
3	South West Bukit Barisan	Onshore West and Central Sumatra	Consortium PT Radian Nusa Investama- PC (SKR) International Ltd.
4	Lirik II	Onshore Central Sumatra	PT Karya Inti Petroleum
5	West Tungkal	Onshore Jambi	PT Tiga Musim Mas Jaya
6	South East Tungkal	Onshore Central Sumatra	Consortium Gujarat State Petroleum Corp.- Essar E&P Ltd.
7	Lampung III	Onshore Lampung	PT Harpindo Mitra Kharisma
8	East Muriah	Offshore East Java	Consortium Pearl Energy Ltd - Australian Worldwide Exploration Ltd.
9	Madura	Offshore East Java	PT Sinochem Petroleum E&P
10	North Sumbawa II	Offshore West Nusa Tenggara	Husky Energy International Corp.
11	West Sageri	Makassar Straits	Consortium Kaizan Oil&Gas LLC- Niko Resources (Overseas II) Ltd.
12	South East Ganal I	Makassar Straits	Consortium Kaizan Oil&Gas LLC- Niko Resources (Overseas III) Ltd.
13	South East Sangatta	Onshore, Offshore East Kalimantan	Consortium PT Kutai Timur Resources - Salamander Energy (SE Sangatta) Ltd.
14	South Bengara II	Onshore, Offshore East Kalimantan	Adelphi Energy Ltd.
15	North Bone	Onshore, Offshore South Sulawesi	PT General Energy Indonesia
16	South Matindok	Onshore, Offshore Central Sulawesi	Consortium Kaizan Oil&Gas LLC- Niko Resources (Overseas IV) Ltd.
17	Bone Bay	Onshore, Offshore South East Sulawesi	Consortium Kaizan Oil&Gas LLC- Marathon Indonesia New Ventures Ltd.
18	Buton I	Onshore, Offshore SE Sulawesi	PT Putindo Bintech
19	Arafura Sea	Offshore Arafura	ConocoPhillips
20	Seram	Offshore Seram	Consortium Biak Petroleum LLC- Niko Resources (Overseas VI) Ltd.
21	West Papua I	Onshore, Offshore West Papua	Chevron Indonesia Ventures Ltd.
22	West Papua III	Onshore, Offshore West Papua	Chevron Indonesia Ventures Ltd.