Tender participants required to provide bank guarantee

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has issued a decree obliging all investors bidding for oil and gas blocks in the country to provide a bank guarantee.

?The bank guarantee is needed to show that tender participants have a serious intention and a good performance,? Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Friday.

Head of working areas subdirectorate at the ministry?s directorate general of oil and gas R. Priyono later explained that the bank guarantee is about 20 percent of the bonus pledged by the tender participants to the government.

Priyono also said the ministry had received applications from a number of international oil and gas companies seeking to get contracts over 25 oil and gas blocks across the country through the direct-offer system.

?The companies including Chevron, Total, Amerada Hess, ENI and ConocoPhilips have applied to be included in the direct offer system this year,? Priyono said, without specifying the locations of the 25 blocks eyed by the companies

He said the government planned to open the first-stage direct offer tender the third week of this month.

Also, the government will officially put 10 blocks, including seven blocks in Makassar Straits and three blocks in East Natuna, into a regular tender in the second week of July. (Godang)