Pertamina wins tender to develop two oil blocks in Libya

State owned oil and gas company Pertamina has won a tender to develop two oil blocks in Libya, believed to have oil reserves of more than one billion barrels.

Pertamina's president director Widya Purnama said in Jakarta on Friday that the onshore Sirt Block, one of the two oil blocks, was believed to have oil reserves of between 300 and 400 million barrels. "While the offshore Sabrata oil block, the other oil blocks, has oil reserves of about 690 million barrels," he said.

The success to win the two oil blocks was quite encouraging given the large amount of the estimated oil reserves in the two oil blocks, Widya said, adding that he would sign the contracts for the development of the two oil blocks with the Libyan government on Oct. 15, this year.

According to him, Pertamina would need an initial investment of about US$100 million to begin the exploration activities at the two oil blocks. He said that Pertamina would soon establish a subsidiary which would be called Pertamina EP Libya to operate the two oil blocks.

He said that the new company would with a number of local companies to carry out the operation of the two oil blocks. (Godang/dino)