Regarding Additional Partners Of Pertamina And Petronas In Masela, Director General Of Oil And Gas Leaks Criteria

Director General of Oil and Gas (Dirjen Migas) of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Tutuka Ariadji. (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Director General of Oil and Gas (Dirjen Migas) of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Tutuka Ariadji opened his voice about additional partners in Inpex, Pertamina and Petronas to work on the Masela Block.

Tutuka said that until now there is no specific partner who will work on the largest oil and gas field in Indonesia.

"Oh, that's not yet. There's still no formal or how it's still being discussed," he told the media quoted Friday, September 29.

Tutuka said the search for this new partner was intended to reduce operational risks because both Inpex, Pertamina and Petronas had no experience managing offshore LNG or offshore.

"This is more about reducing the risk, right, Petronas, Pertamina and Inpex if the LNG offshore players are not very experienced," continued Tutuka.

For this reason, the criteria for the new partner must be experienced in their fields.

Previously, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif said that PT Pertamina (Persero) had indeed submitted a study regarding the development of the Masela Block Eternal Field which requires special competence considering that the field has a fairly high complexity level.

"They have a study that the field complexity does require special competencies that are open so that the field can be worked on," Arifin told the media quoted Monday, September 4.

With a high level of complexity, he said, it opens up opportunities for Pertamina to add other partners besides Inpex Blok Masela Ltd and Petronas.

"For this reason, it is open (to add partners) so that this field can be worked on optimally and safely," continued Arifin.

With a new partner, Arifin hopes that Blok Masela can produce LNG which was previously projected to reach 9.5 million tons per year.

Arifin also did not explain that Pertamina's new partner was considering that it was still being studied by the company.

"Yes, of course," said Arifin briefly.