GOVT TO SIGN FOUR CBM CONTRACTS NEXT WEEK

Jakarta, July 31 (ANTARA) - The government is expected to sign four coal bed methane (CBM) contracts with investors on August 4-6 next week, a senior oil official said here on Friday.

Oil and Gas Director General of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Evita Legowo said the contracts would be signed on the occasion of the Society Petroleum Engineer Asia Pacific Oil & Gas Conference and Exhibition (SPE APOGCE) 2009 at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) on August 4-6, 2009.

"There will be four contracts. We will decide it today," the director general said about the event which was expected to be attended by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Up to now, the government has signed 10 work contracts with investors. The latest three contracts were signed during the 33rd Indonesian Petroleum Association (IPA) on May 5, 2009.

The three contracts were on Sangatta II with Pertamina's (state-owned oil and gas firm)'s consortium Hulu Energi Metana Kalimantan B - PT Visimultiartha, Tabulako with PT Artha Widya Persada and Ogan Komering with PT Ogan Interior Gas.

The other seven contracts included Block Sekayu, South Sumatra with PT Medco CBM Sekayu's consortium and South Sumatra Energy Inc, which was signed on May 27, 2008. The Sekayu CBM block contract was the first to be signed by the government.

Two other contracts were those on the Bentian Besar Block, East Kalimantan with contractor PT Ridhatama Mining Utama and Indragiri Hulu Block with contractor PT Samantaka Mineral Prima, which were signed on June 26, 2009.

In the meantime, the contracts on four other blocks were signed on November 13, 2009. They were on Barito Banjar 1 with PT Indobararambai Gas Methan, Barito Banjar 2 Block with PT Barito Basin Gas, Sangatta Block with consortium PT Pertamina Hulu Energi Metana A Sangatta West CBM Inc and Kutai Block with consortium Kutai West CBM Inc Newton Energy Capital Limited.

The government hopes the first CBM production would begin in 2011.