Eight E&P cos interested to acquire exploration blocks: Govt

Government said on Wednesday three more foreign E&P companies have stated interest to directly acquire oil, gas blocks that are not on the offer, making the number of interested companies increased to eight.

?We will summon those companies this week to discuss their proposals; then announcement will be made within few week?s time to invite other companies that might be interested to compete in bidding for the blocks,? said director general of oil and gas at the ministry of energy and mineral resources Iin Arifin Takhyan.

Iin said other possible bidders will be given one month to submit their bids, and if by that time there were no bidder, then the eight companies will be automatically granted right to explore the blocks. ?Hopefully, we could award the blocks in November,? said Iin.

Iin said among eight interested companies were US oil giant ConocoPhillips and Singapore junior oil company Pearl Oil.

Iin earlier said that the blocks were located in Papua, Kalimantan, Sumatra and Natuna Sea.

In a bid to attract E&P investors, government allows companies to directly bid for blocks that are not in the offer, but to keep the process transparent government would make announcement top find out whether there are more bidders interested to acquire the blocks.

Government had just announced the winner of eight exploration blocks, which was held through regular bidding process and plan to offer 10 more through the same process next month.(alex)