East Kalimantan state firm demand a stake in Inpex' Attaka block
Tuesday, June 23 2015 - 01:14 AM WIB
PT Migas Mandiri Pratama (MMP), a regional state-owned enterprise of East Kalimantan Province, has submitted proposal to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, demanding a participating interest in the Attaka block offshore East Kalimantan which expires in 2017, according to a top official of the firm.
If the government agrees on the demand, it will the second oil and gas block in which the newly-established firm has a participating interest. The firm already got assurance it will get a participating interest in the Mahakam block, but the amount of interest is still being discussed between the firm and state owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina. The government has awarded 70 percent of interest in the block to Pertamina and MMP.
?We will seek to enter into any blocks which will give us a good profit,? MMP's President Director Hazairin Adha told Petromindo.com.
According to the newly-released Indonesian Oil & Gas Book 2015 published by Petromindo, the Attaka PSC is located in the Makassar Strait, approximately 19 km offshore from Tanjung Santan and northeast of the Mahakam Delta in East Kalimantan.
The block was awarded to Inpex in March 31, 1967. In 1991, Inpex was granted a 20-year extension of the Attaka PSC effective from March 31, 1997 through March 30, 2017 after agreeing to add spending of US$30 million for exploration over six years.
The PSC is now operated by Inpex with 50 percent working interest, in partnership with Chevron Indonesia Company (formerly Unocal Indonesia Company) which holds the remaining 50 percent.
The Attaka PSC contains the giant Attaka field, which was discovered in May 1970 and developed as the first offshore field in Indonesia, with first crude oil and natural gas production occurring in November 1972 from six wellhead platforms.
Editing by Johannes Simbolon