Companies eying Hess assets make request to open data room

By Godang Sitompul

Investors interested in acquiring oil and gas blocks in Indonesia operated by US oil and gas firm Hess Corporation have made request to open the data room before they make bids for the blocks.

Those who have made such request include PT Saka Energi (a subsidiary of state-controlled gas distribution firm PGN), Indonesia-listed energy company PT Medco Energi Internasional Tbk, Santos, SK Inovation, Mitsui, and state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina.

?All of these companies have requested the Directorate General of Oil and Gas (Migas) to open up the Hess data room,? said Yunan Muzaffar, Head of the Oil and Gas Exploration Supervision Sub Directorate at Migas, to Petromindo.com on Thursday. He did not provide further details.

As reported by Petromindo.com in May, more than ten firms had submitted letter of intents to acquire oil and gas assets of Hess in Indonesia. Hess is trying to quickly complete the divestment process of its assets in Indonesia, part of the company?s strategy to divest oil and gas assets in various countries as it aims to focus on the US operation.

According to the Oil and Gas Book 2013 published by Petromindo, the firm is the operator in four blocks, namely Pangkah PSC, in which it has a 75 percent stake, Semai V PSC (100 percent), South Sesulu PSC (100 percent), and Offshore Timor Sea I PSC (100 percent). It also owns non-operator stakes in another three blocks, namely Natuna Sea Block A PSC (23 percent), Kofiau PSC (42.5 percent) and West Timor PSC (49 percent).

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak