Govt to release bid documents for 10 oil and gas blocks next week

Oil and Gas Director General Iin Arifin Takhyan said Tuesday bid documents for 10 oil and gas blocks offered by the government last year would be available to interested parties next week.

Meanwhile, bid documents for another seven blocks recently offered in a special bidding system will also be available next week, Iin told reporters.

Iin said that the government had not finished yet with its study on incentives for contractors interested in the 10 blocks. ?This was the reason behind its failure to release bid documents for the blocks earlier,? he said.

The government expects to sign contracts for the seven blocks and 10 blocks in March and June, respectively, the official said.

The 10 blocks are Lhokseumawe block on and offshore Lhokseumawe in Nangroe Aceh Darussalam; Ujungkulon block on and offshore Ujungkulon in Banten; North East Madura III, IV and V blocks offshore East Java; Rote I and II blocks offshore Rote island in East Nusa Tenggara; Babar block offshore Babar island in Maluku; Selaru block offshore Selaru island, Maluku; and Manokwari block on and offshore Berau in Papua.

Meanwhile, the seven blocks include four located in East Kalimantan (Nunukan, Bulungan and Ambalat blocks), and one onshore South Sumatra?s Lubuk Linggau, one in Aceh (Serpuai), and one in Papua (Bovendigul).

Furthermore, Iin said that the government had also planned to auction 10 new oil and gas blocks in October.

He refused to mention the names and loctions of the blocks, however. (godang)