ConocoPhillips farms out Warim block

By Febry Silaban

American firm ConocoPhillips is planning to pull out from the Warim block, onshore West Papua, offering all its participating interest to interested parties, according to a top official of upstream authority SKKMigas.

"ConocoPhillips is farming out all its interest in Warim block as part of portfolio management," Chairman of SKKMigas Amien Sunaryadi said.

According to Amien, the firm want to focus on conducting exploration activities in the Palangkaraya block, North Kalimantan.

However, the firm is still waiting for the principle land permit for a seismic survey planned in Warim block.

ConocoPhillips is the operator of the Warim block with 80 percent interest in a partnership with Australian firm Santos which has the remaining 20 percent interest.

The block?s exploration activities have been halted for years as some parts of the area were considered to overlap with Lorentz national park. The government has extended the block?s contract for another 15 years to 2032 to compensate the lost years.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon