Pertamina plans to acquire oil blocks in Kazakhstan

By Godang Sitompul

State oil and gas company Pertamina is exploring the possibility of acquiring three oil and gas blocks in Kazakhstan to take the advantage of the special offer given by the Kazakhstan government.

Vice president for business development of upstream of state oil and gas company Pertamina, Andriansyah, said in Jakarta on Friday that one of the blocks was being evaluated while the other two were currently being screened.

Pertamina president director Karen Agustiawan said earlier that the company was interested to acquire the three oil and gas blocks which were estimated to be able to produce 50,000 barrels per day.

"In the next two weeks, representatives from Kazakhstan will meet me to officially offer the oil and gas blocks and explain their potential reserves,? Karen said after attending a meeting between visiting Kazakhstan President Nurzultan Nazabayev and Economic Coordinating Minister Hatta Radjasa.

The Kazakhstan government promised that Pertamina would be given priority to acquire oil and gas assets in the country, one of the world?s largest oil producer.

Kazakhstan government has invited foreign companies to develop its oil and gas fields to help it achieve its target to increase oil production to 2 million barrels per day next year from about 1.6 million barrels per day at present.

Editing by Roffie Kurniawan