Pertamina assigned to operate East Ambalat in RI-Malaysia border
Tuesday, February 9 2016 - 07:59 AM WIB
State owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina (Persero) has been assigned by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to operate the abandoned East Ambalat PSC located in Makassar Strait area bordering Malaysia.
Director General of Oil and Gas IGN Wiratmaja said in a letter sent by his office, Pertamina was asked to talk with Malaysian state owned firm Petronas Bhd over possible cooperation in developing the block.
?We have awarded East Ambalat to Pertamina. We asked them to look for partners preferably Petronas,? Wiratmaja told Petromindo.com.
The East Ambalat PSC located in the Tarakan Basin offshore northeast Kalimantan, and covers an area of approximately 4,739 sq km.
The 30-year PSC was awarded to Unocal East Ambalat Ltd. (now Chevron East Ambalat Ltd) on December 12, 2004 for a term of 30 years.
In June 2009, upstream authority BPMIGAS (now SKK Migas) recommended an extension of the exploration period of the PSC. However, Chevron elected to relinquish the block to the government with effect from the expiry of the initial six-year exploration term in December 2010.
Both Malaysia and Indonesia claim to have rights over the East Ambalat block.
Editing by Johannes Simbolon