Total says it has yet to decide on offer for interest in new Mahakam PSC
Wednesday, December 7 2016 - 01:08 AM WIB
Inpex
PT Total E&P Indonesie (TEPI), operator of the Mahakam block, said it has yet to decide on the Indonesian government?s offer for participating interest in the block after its current contract expires at the end of next year.
?To that offer, so far we are studying that option and have not made any decision yet,? said Kristanto Hartadi, Head of Media Relations Department of TEPI in statement late Tuesday to clarify a December 2 report in this portal quoting a source as saying that the company has decided to completely withdraw from the block after the expiry of the current contract.
According to the source, Total will not participate in the management of the block starting 2018 under a new PSC, where the operatorship is transferred to state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina. The source added that the decision has been informed by Total top officials during a recent meeting with President Joko Widodo (Jokowi). The source also said that Total?s current partner in the block, Inpex Corp has also decided not to take the offer for a participating interest in the Mahakam block under the operatorship of Pertamina.
The government has decided to transfer the Mahakam block to Pertamina when the current contract expires at the end of this year. The government, however, through Pertamina has offered both Total and Inpex for a combined 30 percent participating interest in the block under the new PSC starting 2018.
Elsewhere, Kristanto said that there were not any Total top officials who recently met with Jokowi as the last courtesy visit by Total Group CEO Patrick Pouyanne to the president was made on May 15, 2015.
?Total already in an agreement with Pertamina to facilitate the transition process in order to make a smooth operatorship transfer of Mahakam PSC, regardless the participating interest offer for the new PSC. The transfer agreement had been signed a few months ago. In December 2015 TEPI created Transition of Mahakam Operatorship (TMO) unit to do that task, Pertamina and SKK Migas also created the same entities, as counterpart of TMO, to ensure smooth handover from Total to Pertamina,? the statement said.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak