Pertamina interested to manage Attaka block

By Bernard Loebs

State-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina has expressed interest to manage the Attaka block in East Kalimantan when the contract of current investors Inpex Corp and Chevron Indonesian over the block expires in 2017.

This was said by Director of Upstream Management at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Djoko Siswanto on Wednesday, but did not provide further details. ?Pertamina said it is interested (in the block),? Djoko said.

Pertamina could not be immediately reached for comments.

The statement comes after operator Inpex Corp and its partner Chevron Indonesia have earlier said that they will not seek for an extension of the current Attak block production sharing contract when it expires in 2017.

The Attaka PSC is located in the Makassar Strait, approximately 19 km offshore from Tanjung Santan and northeast of the Mahakam Delta in East Kalimantan. The block was awarded to Inpex in March 31, 1967. In 1991, Inpex was granted a 20-year extension of the Attaka PSC effective from March 31, 1997 through March 30, 2017 after agreeing to add spending of US$30 million for exploration over six years.

The PSC is now operated by Inpex with 50 percent working interest, in partnership with Chevron Indonesia Company (formerly Unocal Indonesia Company) which holds the remaining 50 percent.

The Attaka PSC contains the giant Attaka field, which was discovered in May 1970 and developed as the first offshore field in Indonesia, with first crude oil and natural gas production occurring in November 1972 from six wellhead platforms.

The East Kalimantan provincial administration has said it wanted to have a participating interest in the Attaka PSC.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak