Government to offer four non-conventional oil, gas working areas

The government plans to offer to investors four non-conventional oil and gas working areas at the upcoming Indonesia Petroleum Association (IPA) conference and exhibition in May of this year.

Director General of Oil and Gas at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources IGN Wiratmaja Puja said in a statement on Friday that the four working areas are located in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

He added that the government will apply the new gross split mechanism in the contract for the new oil and gas working areas.

?We plan to offer four working areas at the IPA conference,? Wiratmaja said in the statement, but added that the number may increase depending on response from investors. ?If there is high enthusiasm, we?ll re-offer working areas which failed to gain interest last year. Usually, we?ll add new data,? he added.

The government failed to gain interest for three non-conventional working areas offered last year including Raja coal bed methane (CBM) working area, Bungamas CBM working area, and Batu Ampar hydrocarbon shale block.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak