Gov't may sign more oil contracts this year: Report

Indonesia said on Monday it may sign two more oil contracts this year and open up more areas for production sharing deals at the end of the year as investors have shown little interest in the oil blocks on offer so far, Reuters reported Monday.

The two new contracts, in addition to one already signed with state oil company Pertamina, make up a total of three for 2002. Indonesia signed eight oil contracts in 2001, including one each with BP and TotalFinaElf .

"There are only two currently on process for signing," an official at the mines and energy ministry told Reuters, adding the contracts may only be signed at the end of this year or early next year.

Indonesia tendered 17 areas at the beginning of 2002 but few have been taken up. The government has not given details on the exploration blocks or bids for the contracts.

The official, who declined to be identified, said the government was still processing one contract which was Italian oil and gas group Eni's bid for oil exploration in an offshore area in Makassar Straits.

He gave no details for the second contract.

State agency, BP Migas, which handles the administration of production sharing contracts (PSCs), has signed one 20-year joint-venture production sharing contract between state oil company Pertamina and the Riau province for the Coastal Plain Pekanbaru oil block in central Sumatra.

"The government only signed one contract so far this year. We plan to open more oil areas for investors by the end of this year," the official said.

He gave no further details but earlier this this year, Rachmat Soedibjo, head of BP Migas told reporters that the areas were, among others, those in offshore and onshore East Java, Kalimantan and Sumatra. (*)