Oil and gas investment may increase in 2004

Investment in Indonesia’s oil and gas sector will improve next year as the country’s oil and gas resources are still attractive, and could even surpass the 2003 total investment of US$6 billion mark, Kompas newspaper reported in its Friday edition.

With its huge potential and investment climate, Indonesia is an attractive place for domestic as well as foreign oil and gas companies, director-general of oil and gas at the ministry of energy and mineral resources Iin Arifin Tahkyan told reporters recently in Jakarta.

Investment in 2004, according to Iin, will follow the present upward trend. The total investment in Indonesia’s oil and gas sector was $5 billion in 2002 and this further improved to $6 billion in 2003.

Among the things that motivated the investors include not only the Indonesia potential, which is relatively good, but also higher world crude oil prices. Therefore, each and every company wants to boost their crude reserves in foreign countries, Iin said.

He said of the 60 hydrocarbon basins in the country, only 38 have been explored so far.

Meanwhile, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said the government expects to sign 15 new oil and gas contracts next year.

"We are now in the process of offering ten new oil and gas acreages as well as processing the direct offering of five new oil and gas blocks," Purnomo told The Jakarta Post newspaper after installing new senior officials at the ministry on Wednesday.

This year, the government has awarded 16 contracts to oil and gas production sharing contractors, who pledged a total investment of around US$300 million. (*)