Chevron, Medco eyeing W. Java geothermal projects

At least 17 companies including U.S. oil and gas giant Chevron and Indonesia stock exchange-listed energy firm PT Medco Energi Internasional are taking part in a tender to develop geothermal projects in West Java, an official says.

Sugiharto Harsoprayitno, the Director for Development of Geothermal and Underground Water at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, said in Jakarta on Friday that the firms were bidding for three projects offered by West Java administration, that is Tengkuban Perahu (220 MW), Cisolok-Sukarame (45 MW) and Tampomas (50 MW).

Currently, he said that the tender is in the phase of submitting bidding document and government would open the bidding documents on June 26.

?The announcement will be made 40 days after the opening of bidding document and the permits will be issued about 15 days after the announcement,? he said, adding that the government would give the winner three years to complete the project. ?The winner will have two years to carry out exploration and another year to prepare for the commercial production,? he added.

The ministry has authorized local governments to tender eight geothermal resources in the country including those in West Java, Aceh, Halmahera, Central Java and East Java.

However, only West Java administration has launched the tender. (*)