Lundin farms out Papua exploration block

By Febry Silaban

Swedish oil gas firm Lundin Petroleum is in the process of farming out up to 49 percent of its interest in the Cendrawasih VII (CVII) block offshore Papua, according to an official of the company.

Lundin?s Exploration Manager Batara Simanjuntak told Petromindo that the firm has opened data room for the CVII block and there are 12 companies which have submitted letters expressing interest in the block.

?We hope that by June this year, there will be a company bargaining with us,? he said.

The firm signed PSC on CVII block in July 2013 through a swap scheme in which it released its Sareba block in exchange for the CVII block. The firm holds a 100 percent interest in the CVII block PSC through its subsidiary Lundin Sareba BV.

The CVII block covers an area of approximately 5,545 sq km and has been lightly explored. The block contains the shallow water portion of the Mamberamo delta and an undeveloped gas discovery in Pliocene turbidite reservoirs. Large carbonate build-ups have also been identified on a 950 sq km 3D seismic survey that was acquired in 2009. The firm expects to reprocess the 3D seismic survey results prior to possible future drilling.

Commitments to Sareba Block that it had fulfilled were carried over to the CVII PSC and the remaining financial commitment for the purchase of geological and geophysical data shall be completed within one year after the PSC amendment.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon