Govt to set up ad hoc team for Masela

In order to accelerate the development of the gas reserve of Masela block in Maluku province, te government will create an ad hoc team comprising officials from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR), SKK Migas, the Ministry of Industry and the owners of the block, Inpex Corporation and Royal Dutch Shell

This was said by Director General of Oil and Gas during a discussion on Tuesday, according to a statement.

Wiratmaja explained that soon after President Joko Widodo decided that the LNG plant for the bock should be built onshore rather offshore as proposed by Inpex and Shell, the PSC contractors immediately made a study on an onshore LNG plant. The result of the study has been submitted to the MEMR.

He said Inpex and Shell proposed several incentives in their study. It is for the ad hoc team to study the proposal. ?There are several incentives proposed by Inpex which will be evaluated by the ad hoc team in details,? he said without providing details.

Wiratmaja is optimistic that the Final Investment Decision (FID) for the development of the block could be made in 2018 as targeted. The Plan of Developmen (PoD) is expected to be completed in 2017. New Minister Arcandra Tahar has asked the ministry and SKK Migas to speed up the evaluation of the PoD, he said.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon