Indonesia Awards Oil, Gas Blocks To New Zealand Oil & Gas, Total SA, Statoil

Indonesia has picked the winners for 13 out of 25 oil and gas blocks it opened for bidding earlier this year.

The Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources said Saturday among the successful bidders is a consortium consisting of New Zealand Oil & Gas Ltd. (NZO.NZ), Bukit Energy Asia Pte. and Surya Buana Lestari, which won the bid for the onshore Bohorok block in North Sumatra.

France's Total SA (FP.FR TOT) was named the winner for the offshore Bengkulu-I Mentawai block in Sumatra, and offshore Telen block in the Makassar Strait, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, the consortium formed by Norway's Statoil ASA (STL.OS, STO) and Japan's Niko Resources Ltd. (NKO.T, NKRSF) won the offshore Aru block, it said.

The ministry added that it failed to attract bidders for 10 blocks, and is still evaluating the bids for one block. However, it didn't provide any details.

The government has been actively offering new blocks to boost production. While its gas production is increasing, its crude-oil output has been declining steadily to the lowest levels in 30 years as most the fields are maturing.

Indonesia didn't renew its membership in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in 2009 after becoming a net oil importer in early 2000s.

-By I Made Sentana, Dow Jones Newswires; 62 21 39831276: [e-mail]