Riau waits for confidential data on CPP oil block

The provincial administration of Riau is waiting for the confidential data on the Coastal Plain Oil (CPP) oil block before finding its partners in operating the oil block, Astaga.com reported on Wednesday.

Director General of Oil and Gas at the Ministry of Mines and Energy Sudibyo said in Jakarta on Tuesday that without the data, it would be difficult for the Riau government to find partners in operating the oil block.

"The government should be very careful in handing over the classified data because it is related to the state assets. But we will try to speed up the process so that Riau will be able to find out its partners before the existing contract ends in August next year," he told a hearing with the Commission VIII of the House of Representatives.

He said he hoped the data could be handed over to the local government before the end of August this year.

Governor of Riau province H. Saleh Djasit said on Monday that the provincial administration would soon open a tender to select a right partner to jointly operate the oil block beginning August next year.

According to the team for the preparation of the operation of the oil block, the local government would establish a consortium of local companies to operate the oil block. The consortium will work with a professional oil company to jointly operate the oil bloc, which at present has 28 oil fields or 297 oil wells.

The ministry has proposed the Riau province to operate the oil block in cooperation with either Pertamina or Caltex or with both of them. But the proposal was rejected as Riau, instead, demanded to operate the oil block with partners of his own choices.

Caltex, which operates the oil block until the contract is expired in August next year, has reduced operational costs due to uncertainty in the future of the oil field, causing the fall in its daily production to some 50,000 barrels from about 80,000 barrels early this year. (*)