Indonesia received bids from several foreign companies for exploration in five oil and gas blocks in 2017, the deputy energy minister said, marking an uptick in interest for the resource-rich nation compared with previous years.
At least four companies, including Mubadala Petroleum, Repsol SA and KrisEnergy, put in bids for five of the 10 conventional blocks offered, deputy energy minister Arcandra Tahar said in a news conference.
Local companies had also expressed an interest in the blocks, he said.
Some 22 oil and gas blocks were offered between 2015 and 2016 but no companies bid for them. These would be offered again in January 2018, Tahar said.
The government also received no bids in 2017 for five non-conventional blocks that were offered.
Winners of the five blocks that were bid on are due to be announced in late February 2018. The blocks will be developed under contracts that have a new way of splitting up production revenues between the government and the concession winners.
The contracts will be signed in March 2018.
