East Natuna PSC to be concluded in November

By Godang Sitompul

PT Pertamina East Natuna, a subsidiary of state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina, expects the terms and conditions of the production sharing contract (PSC) of the East Natuna block can be agreed and signed in November of this year.

?Yesterday, we met with the Director General of Oil and Gas, BPMIGAS (upstream oil and gas regulator) and the Ministry of Finance. There were still differences, but the Director General has set a target for the PSC to be signed by end of November,? President Director of Pertamina East Natuna, Denni Tampubolon told Petromindo.com Friday.

Denni said that the discussion between the government and Pertamina focused on the requested fiscal incentive for the development of the block in Nuna, Riau Islands.

Director General of Oil and Gas Evita Legowo confirmed that the PSC?s terms and conditions were targeted to be completed in November. ?God Willing, it will be done in November,? she told Petromindo.com.

The East Natuna block is estimated to hold about 46 tcf of natural gas reserves, considered as one of the largest untapped gas reserves in Asia. The gas reserve, however, has significant CO2 content, which means that the cost to develop the block would be unusually high as it would require the cleaning of the gas from the CO2 element.

Pertamina and its partners including ExxonMobil and Total SA have requested for incentives from the government to develop the block.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak