Total, Inpex share 30% in Indonesia

Total and Japanese oil company Inpex will share a 30-percent stake in the offshore Mahakam block once Total’s operating rights at the field expire in December 2017, Indonesia announced today.

The Indonesian government said that Pertamina will acquire a 70-percent stake in the field, leaving Total and Inpex sharing the remaining 30 percent, Reuters reported.

The decision resolves a more than seven-year tussle over the future of the block, and follows internal calls for the block to be nationalised and handed over to Indonesia’s state-run energy company Pertamina.

“We want to show our appreciation to the [current] contractors that have shown their commitment to invest,” the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Sudirman Said, told reporters.

Total has held a 50-percent operating interest in the Mahakam block since 1970, when it took over as operator from Inpex, which has been operating the block independently since 1966.

The French upstream player expects output from the Mahakam to reach 39.6 mcm per day in 2016, which is down compared to the 45.3 mcm per day it targeted this year.