The government is expected to decide the future of Rokan Block, the country’s most productive oil block, in the next week as proposals from two potential operators have been submitted and evaluated.
It is known that there are two proposals: from existing operator PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia (CPI), the local unit of United States-based oil giant Chevron, and state-energy holding firm Pertamina.
The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s directorate general for oil and gas, Djoko Siswanto, said on Thursday that his team had assessed the proposals, but the decision had to wait after his report to the minister, Ignasius Jonan, next week.
“Therefore, at the end of July, the minister [Ignasius Jonan] will decide who is the winner or decide to drop both proposals and to evaluate [the situation] again,” he said.
Djoko declined to disclose the detail of the proposals, such as the gross-split share of both applicants and their target for oil and gas production in years to come.
He only said that the block was in a declining phase after operating for at least 50 years under CPI.
It was preciously reported that both proposals contained technology to improve the production rate in the block, which is called Enhance Oil Recovery (EOR).
As of April, data from the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKK Migas) shows that Rokan Block’s oil production stood at 210,280 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and its gas production at 24.26 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas.
Rokan Block is a ready-to-produce site, or known as an exploitation site, which is set to expire in August 2021. (dmr)