More foreign oil firms mull bidding for 10 new blocks

More foreign oil and gas companies operating in Indonesia have expressed their keen interest in 10 new blocks being auctioned by the government, an industry source told Petromindo.Com Thursday.

They are ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Unocal and TotalFinaElf, the source said.

Earlier reports said that two oil firms, ChevronTexaco and PetroChina, had considered to bid for the blocks. ChevronTexaco said it was eyeing on concession areas in East Java.

It remained unclear when the government will issue bidding documents to interested companies, the source said.

The ten oil and gas blocks are Lhokseumawe block on and offshore Lhokseumawe in Nangroe Aceh Darussalam; Ujungkulon block on and offshore Ujungkulon in Banten; North East Madura III, IV and V blocks offshore East Java; Rote I and II blocks offshore Rote island in East Nusa Tenggara; Babar block offshore Babar island in Maluku; Selaru block offshore Selaru island, Maluku; and Manokwari block on and offshore Berau in Papua. (godang)