Evita Legowo, director general of oil and gas affairs at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, said here on Monday, 39 of the 50 oil and gas blocks would be offered through a regular tender mechanism.
"The other 11 blocks will be offered through a direct approach system," she said.
The government would this year also offer 10 coal bed methane (CBM) blocks as part of its effort to improve the performance of the country`s oil and gas sub sector over the next few years.
Besides, the government would also improve the quality of the geophysics and geological data on the blocks to be offered to strengthen its bargaining position toward interested investors,
The government will also facilitate the construction of six gas refueling stations and one gas-fueled vehicle workshop, she said.
In 2011, the government would also add some 3,200 field supervisors for the recently converted kerosene-LPG guidance dissemination and subsidized fuel policy implementation arrangements.
Last year, the government had targeted the auctioning of 43 oil and gas blocks but only 21 were taken. One of the reasons, the auctioning taget was not reached was the provision of not enough geophysics and geological data on the offered blocks, Evita said.
The 43 working areas were offered in two phases, 18 blocks in the first phase and 24 blocks in the second phase, wheres in the first phase six were offered directly and 12 offered through regular tenders.
The total exploration and investment commitments on these blocks in 2010 only reached 265.34 US million dollars and the government obtained a signature bonus of 37.8 million US dollars.
(A050/H-YH/S026)
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Editor: Suryanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
