SK Earthon wins rights to explore offshore oil, gas in Indonesia
SK Innovation's oil exploration subsidiary completes entrance into Southeast Asia's top three oil-producing countries
SK Earthon, an oil and gas exploration subsidiary of SK Innovation, said Thursday it had secured rights to explore two promising oil and gas blocks off the coast of Indonesia.
According to SK Innovation, SK Earthon inked a production sharing agreement for the Serpang block near Java Island and the Binaiya block near the Maluku Islands with the Indonesian gas and oil authority SKK Migas during the IPA Convex held at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition in Banten earlier this week.
The area of each oil and gas block is estimated at about 8,500 square kilometers. As the Serpang block has nearby blocks that are already producing crude oil and gas, some are projecting the site to have 1.2 billion barrels of oil and 6.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
For the Serpang block, SK Earthon owns a 14 percent stake with Malaysia's state-run Petronas holding a 51 percent stake and Japan's Inpex taking up the remaining 35 percent.
The Binaiya block is projected to contain up to 6.7 billion barrels of gas and 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. SK Earthon holds a 22 percent stake for the Binaiya block while Indonesia's state-run oil company Pertamina and Petronas own 56 percent and 22 percent, respectively.
SK Earthon plans to conduct geological analysis and elastic wave exploration of these two blocks over the next three years to discover drilling structures.
The Indonesian contract expanded the company's already-widespread presence in the energy exploration business in Southeast Asia as it has been exploring in the waters of Malaysia and Vietnam.
'With the Indonesian oil and gas block deal, we have completed our clustering strategic map for natural resources development in Southeast Asia spanning China, Vietnam and Malaysia,' said an SK Earthon official.
'Based on our successful experiences in Peru and Vietnam, we will turn Indonesia into another promising region for resource development.'
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