EMP is connected to a firm linked to Indonesia’s new chief economics minister, Aburizal Bakrie.
The production-sharing contract for the Kangean oil-and-gas block is due to expire in 2010. In a report in the Financial Times, Indonesian energy ministry director-general of oil and gas, Iin Arifin Takhyan, said the 20-year extension to this contract was expected to be signed with Energy Mega Persada, the main oil and gas business of the Bakrie Group conglomerate, by December 12.
EMP had long been in negotiations with the government to extend the contract which it had purchased from previous holder BP Plc.
Kangean has estimated reserves of some 2.6 trillion cubic feet of gas. This includes around 1.3 trillion cubic feet of proven reserves.
