Australia, Indonesia unveil bidding rounds

Indonesia is expected to launch an oil and gas licensing round on Wednesday, days after Australia announced its long-anticipated 2017 Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release.

The Australian round covers 21 areas in 8 offshore basins off of Western Australia, Northern Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, the Ashmore Islands and the Cartier Islands, the country’s government said in a press release.

“The areas are located in water depths of 25 to 4,200 metres and vary in size from 161 to 2,465 square kilometres and also vary in level of existing geological knowledge,” the statement said, adding that the release coincided with the launch of a new “online data discovery and delivery system for all Australian offshore petroleum wells and seismic surveys acquired in Commonwealth waters” called NOPIMS 2017.

The Indonesian round, on the other hand, is expected to include both conventional and unconventional plays such as the Riau, Maluku and Papua conventional blocks as well as the Andaman I and II, South Tuna, West Yamdena, Merak, Pekawai and Kasuri III.

Three CBM blocks in South Sumatra and two shale gas areas in Jambi province are also reportedly going on offer Wednesday, all under a base split of 57% for the government and 43% for the contractor, though with modifications based on 12 different factors including location, depth and CO2 content.

Indonesia’s crude production peaked out in 1995 and has since halved from 1.6 million bopd to an average of 821,000 bopd in 2016 and a 2017 target of 815,000 bopd. The country currently imports about 500,000 bopd, having become a net oil importer in 2004.

Low oil and gas prices, rising costs and a cumbersome bureaucracy all contributed to the decline, which the government now hopes to reverse by reforming its energy policy and attracting about USD 200 billion of investments in the next decade. In late March 2017, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan signed a decree that allows producers to be reimbursed for unrecovered investments by either forcing new investors to cover the amounts or by offering flexible terms to extend the existing contracts.