Pertamina tightly competes with KNOC for Repsol-YPF assets

State oil and gas company Pertamina said on Tuesday it is tightly competing with South Korean energy firm Korean National Oil Company (KNOC) for the Indonesian assets of Spanish-Argentinean energy firm Repsol YPF.

?KNOC has now become our main competitor. Thus far, Pertamina ranks second in the competition for the assets,? Pertamina?s president Baihaki Hakim told reporters on the sidelines of the deliberation on the oil and gas bill at the House of Representatives.

Baihaki said Pertamina is reviewing its price proposal in order to beat KNOC in the bidding for the Respsol-YPF assets.

Aside from Pertamina and KNOC, local firm Medco Energy Corp., Japanese firm Mitsui and Thailand firm Thailand Petroleum Authority are also taking part in the bidding.

Repsol-YPF is seeking to sell all its assets in Indonesia following its plan to focus on the North Africa and Latin America.

The company has shares four production blocks and three exploration blocks in the country.

The four operation blocks are the South East Sumatra block, the North West Java block, the West Madura block, and the Poleng block.

The three exploration blocks are the Jambi Merang block, the Blora block, the South Sokang block.

The company currently produces more than 150,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOPD), mostly from South East Sumatra and North West Java. (Alex)