Indonesia to announce winners of blocks' third auction

OIL AND GAS - JAKARTA. Three energy companies have shown interests in operating at least one oil and gas block from four exploration blocks that went up for auction in early November, according to an Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry official.

The four blocks are the South Andaman offshore block in Aceh, South Saka Kemang onshore block in South Sumatra, Anambas offshore block in Riau Islands and the Maratua Block, which is located onshore and offshore in North and East Kalimantan.

They are expected to bring at least US$8 million in signature bonuses or $2 million from each block.

Energy and Mineral Resources Deputy Minister Arcandra Tahar said the government would announce the auction winners sometime this week.

“There are three [oil and gas firms] that have requested [the blocks’] documents. The announcement will be made public this week, on Friday at the latest,” he said adding that two applicants were international companies and the other state-owned energy holding company Pertamina.

Arcandra previously said that Pertamina had been conducted a joint study on the Maratua Block for about one year. The block’s reserves stand at 204.86 million barrels of oil (mmbo) and 890.09 billion cubic feet of gas (bcf).

As of November, the government has completed gross-split scheme contracts for six exploration blocks in two separate auctions this year.