Jakarta. Oil giants Shell, Petronas and state energy firm Pertamina are among the companies that have won oil and gas exploration contracts, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry announced on Wednesday.

“The total commitment explorations from tender winners are worth $144 million for three years of exploration. The government will get $12 million as a signature bonus,” the ministry said in a statement on its website.

The government has been offering the conventional and non-conventional oil and gas blocks since last year in an effort to boost the country’s declining oil production.

Non-conventional oil and gas explorations taps into reservoirs of low-permeability oil such as shale oil, shale gas and coal-bed methane using specialist technology such as hydraulic fracturing.

Shell was awarded the offshore South Moa Island in Maluku province, while Pertamina acquired two blocks, Abar and Anggursi offshore, in West Java.

Petcon Resources and Malaysia’s Petronas will explore the Kualakurun block in an onshore region of Central Kalimantan. Petronas also acquired the rights to explore for oil in North Madura II in offshore East Java.

The total investment of three years’ exploration for the four blocks amounts to $36 million.

Mentari Abdi Pertiwi won the Garung block onshore in Central Kalimantan and Gema Terra-Transform Exploration was awarded the Southeast Papua block in onshore Papua.

The ministry also announced the winners of non-conventional oil and gas blocks in three locations with a total investment worth $37 million.

These contracts were awarded to a  consortium of Bukit Energy Resources Palmerah Deep, New Zealand Oil and Gas, SNP Indonesia, Bumi Perdana Energy and Glory Wealth Pacific, which will explore the Palmerah block in onshore South Sumatra and Jambi.

The consortium of Bukit Energy Indonesia and Pertamina will explore Sakakemang in onshore South Sumatra, and Petroselat will work on the Selat Panjang block in onshore Riau.

Indonesia’s oil production has been declining over the past decade due to low investment in exploration for new oil wells, as its reserves deplete.

GlobeAsia

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Source: The Jakarta Globe