Indonesian Oil Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on January 18th that his country will unveil 21 new oil and natural gas exploration blocks in February, with six priority blocks on offer in the first quarter.
Yusgiantoro said that: “The first six blocks to be offered are in deepwater in the Straits of Makassar.”
He added that: “They are being given high priority and there are many foreign contractors interested.”
The blocks on offer in the Makassar Strait are located near large hydrocarbon reserves, including Indonesia’s first deepwater field, West Seno, which is expected to come on stream in late 2001 or early 2002, adding an initial 60,000 b/d to the country’s crude production.
The remaining blocks to be offered throughout the year include two blocks in the Natuna Sea, six in the Arafura Sea, an additional two in the Makassar Strait, one in Kalimantan, two in Sulwaesi and two in the Seram Sea.
Yusgiantoro also indicated on January 18th that Indonesia was in discussions with several financial institutions over securitizing gas exports to Singapore and Malaysia worth up to $1.1 billion a year.
The Asian OPEC producer is planning to raise cash backed by three gas sales contracts which will be in place by April in the hopes of raising an initial $500 million a year. Yusgiantoro said that: “Now we are in the process of approaching the financial institutions to find out how much we might possibly raise by issuing bonds.
We are not going to fully securitize the amount, but we haven’t decided yet whether it should be 25 percent, 50 percent or 75 percent.”
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
