Pertamina submits proposals to manage six oil, gas blocks

By Bonha Ventura Sebayang

Petromindo|Boim

State-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina has submitted proposals to the government to manage six of eight oil and gas blocks offered by the government to the company as the contract of current operators are set to expire between next and the following year.

Pertamina?s Upstream Director Syamsu Alam said on Thursday the proposals were submitted to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. He added that based on evaluation made by Pertamina team, the six blocks are considered to be economimcally feasible for further development. ?We?re now waiting for the government?s response to start discussions about the work program stated in our proposals,? he said.

Earlier this year, the government offered the eight blocks to Pertamina. The eight blocks are Sanga-Sanga, operated by Virginia Indonesia Co LLC; South East Sumatra, operated by CNOOC SES Ltd; Tengah Block, operated by Total E&P Indonesie; East Kalimantan Block, operated by Chevron Indonesia Company; Attaka, previously operated by Inpex Corporation; North Sumatra Offshore (NSO); block-and-joint operating body (JOB) Tuban; and Ogan Komering blocks that were previously operated by Pertamina.

Syamsu said that Pertamina is only interested in six blocks. The company considered two blocks, namely East Kalimantan and Attaka blocks to be less economically feasible, although in the case of East Kalimantan block, the state company wanted for extra three months time to make further evaluation.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak