GSPC-Essar to invest $ 8 million in Indonesian block

Signed MoU with BPMIGAS on Thursday.

State owned Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation has bagged an onshore block in Indonesia in collaboration with Essar. GSPC-Essar consortium has signed an MoU with Badan Pelaksana Kegiatan Usaha Hulu Minyak and Gas Bumi (BPMIGAS) on November 13.

The South East Tungkal Block is spread in an area of 2309.59 sq km and has been bagged on direct offer negotiation basis, said an official of GSPC. Essar as a partner holds 49 per cent stake in the block while GSPC is the operator with 51% stake.

“We have signed MoU for the Indonesia block today,” said GSPC managing director D G Pandian. GSPC-Essar will infuse $ 8 million over a period of three years for the development of the block.

This block was one of the 22 new oil and gas blocks out of the 25 that Indonesia had offered for bidding.

A few months ago, GSPC had discovered gas in a new well (KG-22) in the Deendayal block, which it had won under the third round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (Nelp-III). The three trillion cubic feet (TCF) find is said to be the highest ever from any single well in India.

GSPC has chalked out plans to spend Rs 4,000 crore over the next three to four years to produce oil and gas from the KG Basin block. The company is also looking to raise money through the public offer next year.