Ministry sees strong response to oil, gas blocks offer

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said that ten oil and gas contractors have accessed tender documents for 15 oil and gas blocks being offered by the government to investors this year.

Director General of Oil and Gas at the ministry Ego Syahrial said in a statement Tuesday that this is a sign that there has been strong interest from investors over the oil and gas working areas offered by the government in the first round this year.

He said that this also suggests that the new gross split policy introduced by the ministry has been well appreciated by oil and gas contractors as it would help improve investment climate in the upstream sector.

The government has failed to get interest from investors for oil and gas blocks offered during the past couple of years. Last year, it only succeeded in getting one bid for the offer.

?While we still have to wait until September, the deadline (for the investors) to return the tender documents, the fact is that 17 tender documents have been accessed by 10 production sharing contractors, comprising of large and small contractors,? he said.

The ministry announced on May 14 it was offering to investors 15 oil and gas working areas (WKs), comprising of 10 conventional working areas and five non-conventional working areas, through direct offer mechanism and regular tender.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak