Pertamina interested in Masela block
Friday, October 20 2017 - 02:10 AM WIB
Petromindo|Khalsa
State-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina is interested in acquiring a participating interest in Masela bock in Maluku Province, a move that may complicate plan to extend Inpex?s current contract over the block, Kontan reported on Friday.
The paper quoted Pertamina Upstream Director Syamsu Alam as saying that the company has sent a letter to Inpex, operator of the block, stating its intention to acquire interest in the block. ?But until now, we have not yet received response to our letter,? he said.
The remarks come following agreement by Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Ignasius Jonan, during a meeting in Tokyo with Inpex CEO Toshiaki Kitamura, to extend the current contract of Inpex over the Masela block by up to 27 years. The current contract is set to expire in 2028.
According to existing Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Regulation No 30/2016, request for an extension of oil and gas contract can be made 10 years prior to expiry at the soonest. This means that the contract extension request can be made in 2018. But the regulation also stipulates that the ministry?s Directorate General of Oil and Gas can only process the contract extension request if Pertamina is not interested in acquiring a participating interest in the block under the new contract.
Dadan Kusdiana, the ministry?s spokesman declined to provide much comments, saying only that formality process regarding the contract extension request is expected soon.
Inpex, which holds a 65 percent interest in Masela block, and the remainder 35 percent held by partner Shell, plans to develop the gas-rich Abadi field in the block. As requested by the government, Inpex will develop an onshore LNG plant with capacity of 9.5 million tons per annum plus a pipeline gas of 150 mmscfd.
The company is currently in the process of completing the required pre-front end engineering design (Pre-FEED), a key step toward the revision of the previous plan of development (POD). Final investment decision is expected to be made in 2018-2019, and production projected to start in 2023. (*)