Chevron quits Papua blocks

By Febry Silaban

Oil major Chevron Corp. has decided to relinquish the West Papua I and West Papua III Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) in West Papua and will return them to the government.

Senior VP Strategic Business Support of Chevron Indonesia Yanto Sianipar told Petromindo.com on Tuesday that the decision by the PSC partners namely Chevron, BP, and MOECO follows an appraisal of the seismic data which determined that neither lease area held economically viable resources and consultation with upstream authority SKK Migas.

West Papua I and III blocks are located both onshore and offshore West Papua. Chevron has 51 percent interest and operatorship with BP and Japan's MOECO hold 32 percent and 17 percent, respectively in both blocks.

Both blocks were awarded in 2008.

Editing by Alexander Ginting