Govt has yet decided incentives for 6 exploration blocks

The government will wait for investors? response to its offer for 11 new oil and gas blocks before deciding whether it will also give incentives to those taking up the six new oil and gas exploration blocks to be tendered later this year, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said Thursday.

?We now focus on the 11 blocks. From the outcome of our offer for the blocks we could know how far investors are interested in the new incentives,? Purnomo told reporters.

Oil and gas director general Iin Arifin Takhyan said recently that the government would in the third quarter of this year offer six new oil and gas contract areas. They were offshore North Natuna in Riau, onshore and offshore Bengkulu in western Sumatra, offshore South Sumba in East Nusa Tenggara, offshore and onshore Buton in Sulawesi and offshore and onshore bird?s head of Papua.

In February, the government tendered 11 new oil and gas blocks in Central Java, East Java, Central Sumatra and East Kalimantan.

For the 11 blocks, investors will get 20-25 percent split for oil, and 35-45 percent split for gas, higher than standard production sharing split of 15 percent for oil and 30 percent for gas.

Government officials predicted that the February offering would be a success. (godang)