ConocoPhillips Seeking Buyer For Indonesian Assets

   By Deden Sudrajat and I Made Sentana 
 

JAKARTA--ConocoPhillips (COP) is seeking a buyer for its offshore Indonesian oil and gas block along with the transportation system and the onshore receiving facility.

ConocoPhillips' Indonesia's spokesman Joang Soetanto said the company sent a letter Wednesday to the Indonesian upstream oil and gas regulator SKK Migas to "open a data room" to determine whether there is interest from other companies to acquire the company's interest in the Block B in the Natuna Sea, along with the associated facility.

Mr. Soetanto dismissed the suggestion that the move is in response to low oil prices.

"If we can find the proper buyer we will sell it, but if we don't we will continue to operate the block," he said.

ConocoPhillips has been operating the block for 47 years, producing 300 million standard cubic feet of gas and 30,000 barrels of oil‎ per day. The company is entitled to operate the block until 2028. The gas is sold to Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

He said the decision doesn't mean the company is seeking to exit the Southeast Asian country, as it was recently awarded the Kualakurun Block in Kalimantan and is continuing operations in the Corridor Block in South Sumatra.

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