The auction of oil and gas working areas this time also received a positive response from the business world along with the continuing improvement in the investment climate in Indonesia’s upstream oil and gas sector.

Tangerang, Banten (Indonesia Window) – The Indonesian government is again bidding oil and gas working areas in 2025, at the Indonesia Petroleum Association (IPA) Convention and Exhibition 2025, at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE) BSD Tangerang, Banten province, on Tuesday (May 20).

The three oil and gas working areas offered have a total potential of around 2.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BoE).

On that occasion, the Acting Director General of Oil and Gas of Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Tri Winarno, revealed that the first oil and gas working area offered regularly is the Gagah Working Area located on the land of South Sumatra province with potential oil and gas resources of around 173 million barrels of oil and 1.1 trillion cubic feet of gas (TCF).

"Furthermore, the Perkasa Working Area is located onshore and offshore in East Java province with potential oil and gas resources of around 228 million barrels of oil or 1.3 trillion cubic feet," he pointed out.

For the last Oil and Gas Working Area, namely the Lavender Working Area, was specifically offered only to Pertamina, Indonesia’s oil and gas state-owned enterprise. The location of the Lavender Working Area is onshore and offshore in South Sulawesi province and Southeast Sulawesi province with potential gas resources of around 10 TCF.

there are several interesting parts about the Oil and Gas Working Area auction this time, including the profit sharing (split) for contractors, which was more than 45-50 percent. "Previously it was around 15-30 percent. This is to boost investment in exploration," Tri noted.

In addition, the required signature bonus is currently relatively lower, ranging from 200,000-300,000 U.S. dollars compared to the previous periods of one million to two million U.S. dollars.

"We have published the schedule and mechanism of the auction procedures on the official website of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. For the direct bidding auction phase I in 2025, the deadline for submitting documents is July 4, 2025," Tri explained.

The government is optimistic that this oil and gas working areas auction would also receive a positive response from the business world along with the continued improvement in the investment climate in the upstream oil and gas sector.

Earlier, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has determined the winning company for the direct bidding auction for the oil and gas working area phase II in 2024 for Air Komering Working Area.

Air Komering Working Area, located on the lands of South Sumatra province and Lampung province, has potential oil and gas resources of around 307 million barrels of oil equivalent.

The auction winner for the Air Komering Working Area is PT Huatong Services Indonesia with a signing bonus of 300,000 U.S. dollars, and a total firm commitment for the first three years of exploration period of 4,450,000 US dollars.

The government expected that the winner of this working area auction would contribute to Indonesia's energy resilience in the future.

Reporting by Indonesia Window