TotalFinaElf awarded Donggala exploration block: Source

The government finally decided to award Donggala offshore exploration block in Makassar Strait to French energy giant TotalFinaElf E&P Indonesie, a source said Monday.

TotalFinaElf and US oil and gas firm Unocal Corp. had been competing for months to win the right to explore the prolific block and the government found it difficult to decide which company to win.

The source said both companies were equally experienced in developing hydrocarbon resources in deepwater area and had proposed ?equally attractive? bidding proposals for the block to the ministry. The government had earlier asked the two companies to set up a joint venture to explore the block.

The Donggala block is one of the nine new exploration blocks being offered by the government for investors this year, which include six blocks in the Makassar Straits, two blocks in Java Sea and one block in the Natuna Sea.

The six blocks in the Makassar Straits are the Popodi, Donggala, Papalang, Taritip, Jangeru and Tanjung Aru blocks. The two blocks in the Java Sea are the Bawean I and Bawean II blocks, while the block in the Natuna Sea is the Nila block.

However, three of the nine blocks, that is the Taritip, Jangeru and Bawean I blocks, have failed to attract bidders.

The source said the ministry had named American firm Conoco as the winner of the Nila block, BP as the winner Bawean block and a joint venture of American firm Amerada Hess and Malaysian firm Petronas as the winner of the Tanjung Aru block.

Conoco and BP have confirmed their winning of the bidding, but they said the results of the bidding have yet to approved by the President.

Two little-known firms registered in the Netherlands ? Zodan NV and Zudavi NV ? have also reportedly been named as the winners of the Popodi and Papalang blocks respectively. Both companies are linked to Malaysian tycoon Ananda Krishnan. (Godang)