Govt. to offer 30 oil and gas blocks this year
In a bid to bolster oil and gas exploration in the under-explored eastern side of Indonesia, the government will offer 30 new oil and gas blocks in that area this year along with a new package of incentives.
The incentive includes a flexibility for investors for not having an obligation to drill wells at first year of the exploration, the ministry’s director for the upstream oil and gas industry, R. Priyono, said.
“However, we will limit investors’ exploration rights to two or three years for one block as soon as they consider the area is not prospective to avoid any idle land coming up,” Priyono said,admitting that the blocks, which are mostly located in deep-water areas in Papua and Nusa Tenggara, were very difficult to be explored.
The 30 blocks, he said, would be offered through regular tenders and direct offers in two phases, which would be started in May or June this year.
Priyono also said that the government would announce the winner of 20 tenders, which was held in August last year, in February this year.