Ministry recommends Pertamina to takeover Attaka, EastKal blocks
Tuesday, December 20 2016 - 12:37 AM WIB
The Directorate General of Oil and Gas at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has recommended state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina to takeover the Attaka and East Kalimantan (EastKal) blocks in East Kalimantan Province when the contracts of the existing investors expire.
The directorate is currently waiting for recommendation from upstream oil and gas authority SKK Migas for the transfer of the operatorship in the two blocks to Pertamina, said Upstream Director at the directorate Tunggal to Petromindo.com on Monday.
?We?re waiting for SKK Migas to provide recommendation on the transfer of operatorship of EastKal and Attaka blocks to Pertamina,? said Tunggal.
He said that the recommendation is expected to be given to Pertamina in early January of next year.
A source told this portal previously that Pertamina is interested to taking over the operatorship of the two blocks when the current contracts expire.
Inpex Corp, the operator of the Attaka block with 50 percent interest, and its partner Chevron Indonesia Company (CICO), have said that they will not request for an extension of the production sharing contract over the block when it expires at the end of 2017.
CICO, which holds 92.5 percent interest in the EastKal block, and its partner Inpex, have also decided not to extend their current contract over the block when it expires on October 2018.
The Attaka PSC, located in the Makassar Strait, contains the giant Attaka field, which was discovered in May 1970 and developed as the first offshore field in Indonesia, with first crude oil and natural gas production occurring in November 1972 from six wellhead platforms.
The East Kalimantan provincial administration has said it wanted to have a participating interest in the Attaka PSC.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak