The company sold the subsidiaries holding its 61.1% operated interests in the Bentu and Korinci-Baru Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) in Central Sumatra, Indonesia.
Santos has accepted offers from Asian Worldwide Group for the Bentu subsidiary and Global Overseas Enterprise for the Korinci Baru subsidiary.
The East Java Basin is considered highly prospective for oil and several substantial oil and gas fields have been discovered within the vicinity of the Santos North Bali 1 PSC area, which covers 3,449sq.km in water depths ranging from 100 to 970m.
Work programs for the PSC include the acquisition of 2D seismic data and the drilling of one exploration well within the next twelve months.
"The award of the North Bali 1 block continues our strategy of building a portfolio of high-potential exploration opportunities and further consolidates our position in the East Java Basin", said Santos' managing director, John Ellice-Flint.
