Australian oil and gas firm Lion Energy has secured 100% participating interest in the East Seram Block in Eastern Indonesia during the country’s direct proposal first bidding round of 2018.
Image: An offshore oil rig in operation. Photo: courtesy of num_skyman/Freedigitalphotos.net.
The offshore block was awarded by the Indonesian Ministry for Energy and Mineral Resources is contained in the northern part of Seram area. It is spread over an area of around 6,500km2, spanning both offshore and onshore of Seram Island.
The block, which lies inside the North Seram Basin, is mainly onshore, said Lion Energy, an ASX listed company, which is focused on Indonesia. It further said that the East Seram Block surrounds the Seram Block PSC, which is considered to be productive for hydrocarbons.
The East Seram Block is also near the producing Oseil oilfield and was awarded to Lion Energy under a gross split production sharing contract (GS PSC). The Australian firm said that the commercial terms of GS PSC are to be finalized before executing the contract it has with the Indonesian government.
According to Lion Energy, the North Seram Basin is still underexplored in spite of activity in the Bula, Oseil and Lofin areas.
The company said that close to 43 exploration wells have been drilled, mainly onshore, which have led to 10 discoveries. These discoveries include the Bula oilfield, Oseil and Nief Utara oil fields along with the Lofin gas field, a recent discovery.
Lion Energy CEO Tom Soulsby said: “This working area provides synergy with Lion’s interest in the revenue generating Seram (Non Bula) Block PSC (SNBB), with the area having delivered significant discoveries and current production.
“The significant infrastructure established in the SNBB to serve the current production can likely be harnessed to fast track new discoveries in the East Seram Block to production. This is a major development for the Company in its future planning and growth.”
Lion Energy has been operating in Indonesia since 1999 and has participation in two other blocks – Seram PSC and South Block A PSC.