Government will soon auction six oil blocks in Makassar St

The government will soon auction six oil blocks found in a deep sea in Makassar Strait, near Sulawesi Island in a bit to boost the country's crude oil production, Antara reported on Tuesday.

"The six oil blocks in the Makassar Strait are located in sea area with a depth of 1 kilometers," Director General of Oil and Gas at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Rachmat Soedibjo was quoted as saying by the news agency,

Rachmat said that the government was preparing the tender process and the contracts that would be proposed to investors, who are interested in developing the oil blocks.

According to him the six oil blocks, which were found by Unocal, have oil reserves of 1000 million barrels each, big enough to increase the country's oil production.

He also explained that the draft on the oil and gas law, which would be soon submitted to the House of Representatives for approval would not affect the oil exploration activities. The proposed law will cover only the downstream industry of the oil sector such as oil refinery, transportation and distribution, he added.

At least 60 oil blocks have been found in Indonesia. 48 of the oil blocks have been drilled, 23 in the exploration process, 14 in production stage while the 22 locations have not been touched at all. (*)