Foreign companies eyes blocks offered in regular tender

At least 32 companies, mostly foreign ones, have indicated their intrest in 16 oil and gas blocks offered by the government through regular tender mechanism, a governmental official said.

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources announced on Oct. 17, 2008 the tender of 31 exploration blocks, including 16 offered under the regular tender mechanism (see table).

?As many as 32 companies have bought bidding documents. They are mostly foreign companies including Hess Corp., French, Dutch, U.S and China firms,? said Eddy Hermantoro, the ministry's Director of Oil and Gas Upstream Operation said in Jakarta on Friday.

?We are sure the number of bidders will be higher, because many bidders usually submit their bid documents in the last minutes,? he added.

He also said state-owned oil and gas PT Pertamina had voiced interest in the tender but it had yet to buy a bidding document.

The bidding will be closed on April 13, and the deadline for the bid submission is April 14. (godang).

No	Block	Location
REGULAR TENDER
1	Andaman-I	Offshore North Sumatra
2	Andaman-II	Offshore North Sumatra
3	Andaman-III	Offshore North Sumatra
4	West Glagah Kambuna	Offshore North Sumatra
5	South Bentu Segat	Onshore Central Sumatra
6	Asem-Asem	Onshore South Kalimantan
7	SW Tanjung	Onshore South Kalimantan
8	South Bulungan	Offshore East Kalimantan
9	North Surumana	Makassar Strait
10	Karaeng	Offshore North Selayar
11	Selayar	Offshore East Selayar
12	Kambuno	Offshore East Selayar
13	SE Halmahera-SW Kofiau	Offshore South Halmahera
14	East Bula	Offshore Seram
15	Aru	Offshore West Papua
16	West Papua IV	Offshore West Papua