Pertamina has yet to receive Total?s option for Mahakam
Tuesday, March 10 2015 - 03:07 AM WIB
State owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina (Persero) said it has not yet received any proposal from Total EP Indonesie (TEPI) regarding the option to implement a five-year transition period in the Mahakam block in East Kalimantan after the current contract over the block expires at the end of 2017.
As such, the firm has not yet discussed the option, a company official said.
?We haven?t received any proposal from Total. At present, we are only waiting for the government to decide on the proposal that we have submitted to them (the government) ,? Pertamina?s Upstream Director Syamsu Alam told Petromindo.com.
Last month, Pertamina submitted to the government its proposal for the development of Mahakam block.
?Our proposal includes technical, financial, commercial, operational, manpower or human resources, and health safety environment (HSE) aspects,? he explained.
The government has sent a strong signal that it will hand over the block to Pertamina after Total?s current contract on the block expires. However, TEPI proposes the government to implement a five-year transition period after the expiry of the contract, during which it will transfer its know-how to the state firm so that the transfer of operatorship would not cause disruption to the production of the block.
Mahakam is known to be a very complex block and many people doubt Pertamina?s capability in operating the block on its own.
Editing by Johannes Simbolon