Govt will award 14 new oil and gas blocks to investors in November

The government will award 14 new oil and gas blocks to investors on production sharing contract basis in November, the Bisnis Indonesia newspaper reported in its Saturday edition.

Director-general of oil and gas Iin Arifin Takhyan said that of the 14 blocks, three would be given to auction winners, while the 11 others would be given to investors through direct offer.

The winners of the auction and the companies that will get the blocks through direct offers would be announced on November 2, Iin said in Jakarta on Friday.

The government put 10 blocks into tender and directly offered 11 blocks for investors several months ago. However, the government only received bids for three of 10 ten blocks put into auction, according to Iin.

"The government is studying why investors are not interested in the other seven blocks," he said.

According to Iin, the government will get a bonus of $20 million from investors at the signing of the contracts for the 14 blocks. (*)