Jakarta (ANTARA) - A total of 18 national and multinational firms have accessed the first round of oil and gas bidding of five conventional working areas, opened since Feb 21.

According to Antara's data here, Friday, the five oil and gas working areas constituted two production areas and three exploration working areas.

The two production areas on offer in the bidding are the West Kampar Block in Riau and North Sumatra and Selat Panjang Block in Riau.

The three exploration working areas being offered are the Anambas Block in Riau Islands offshore, West Ganal Block in East Kalimantan offshore, and West Kaimana Block in Papua Barat.

"A total of18 multinational and national companies have submitted bid documents for the five oil and gas blocks. Enthusiasm has increased to tender the oil and gas blocks," Deputy Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arcandra Tahar pointed out.

The introduction of a gross split scheme, swiftness and transparency in the process, and business certainty for investors with a clear time frame have contributed to increasing oil and gas investment.

Interested parties can access the bid documents of the five oil and gas working areas between Feb 25 and Apr 24. The bid documents must be submitted by Apr 25 at the latest.

Contractors will have to shell out US$5,000 for gaining access to the bid documents.

EDITED BY INE

Translator: Afut SN, Sri Haryati
Editor: Eliswan Azly
Copyright © ANTARA 2019