Indonesia Opens 24 New Oil & Gas Blocks For Tender, Direct Offer
JAKARTA -(Dow Jones)- Indonesia's government is offering 24 new oil and gas
blocks in an attempt to raise dwindling production of the fuels, the Ministry of
Energy and Mineral Resources said Tuesday.
Twelve 12 blocks will be allocated via regular tenders and the remaining 12
are open to direct offers, the ministry said.
The blocks investors can bid for in regular tenders are the South East
Andaman, Tarakan I, Tarakan II, Tarakan III, North Masela, West Berau,
Cendrawasih Bay I, Cendrawasih Bay II, Cendrawasih Bay III, Cendrawasih Bay IV,
Cendrawasih Bay V and East Aru.
Those available for direct offers are Puri, Sakakemang, Selar, Sunda Strait I,
North Madura, Karapan, Mandala, Long Hubung-Long Bagun, Malunda, Sadang, South
Mandar and South Sageri, the ministry said.
Investors can obtain documents for the blocks to be offered in tenders from
Dec. 15-April 13. Bids must be submitted by April 14, it said.
Documents for the blocks open to direct offers will be available from Dec. 15-
Jan. 28. Investors must submit their bids for these blocks by Jan. 29, the
ministry said.
A recent offering of 24 oil and gas blocks failed to attract enough interest,
and the country managed to award only four blocks to investors.
Evita Legowo, the ministry's director general, blamed investors' lack of
interest on the government's plan to limit the amounts it would reimburse
investors for costs after production starts.
Many of the blocks were also located in remote areas, that may have also
weakened investors' appetite, she said.
The government has said it's willing to offer generous terms to investors to
get them to commit to projects in the country.
Indonesia, however, is not the only country seeing investor exhaustion.
India's recent licensing round also attracted limited interest, Venezuela has
repeatedly postponed an offer of the Carabobo oil license, and Iraq failed to
award most of the blocks it offered recently.
-By Deden Sudrajat and I Made Sentana; Dow Jones Newswires; 62-21 39831277; I-
Made.Sentana@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-30-092204ET
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