East Timor awards six offshore permits

June 1, 2006
East Timor has offered six offshore petroleum exploration permits in its inaugural bidding round.

Rick Wilkinson
OGJ Correspondent

MELBOURNE, June 1 -- East Timor has offered six offshore petroleum exploration permits in its inaugural bidding round.

ENI SPA has been awarded five blocks, and India's Reliance Industries Ltd. has received one. A total of nine bids were made for the six blocks. Five other permits on offer for the licensing round were not awarded.

All permits lie off East Timor's southern coast. They do not enter the controversial joint development area (JDA) administered with Australia.

Reliance received Block K in the far east of the offshore region.

ENI received Blocks A, B, C, E, and H. Blocks A and B are in the north, abutting the southern East Timorese coast. Blocks C and E are contiguous to the south against the JDA, while Block H is farther east and also borders the JDA.

ENI's work program involves an expenditure of $9.5 million over the first 3 years and includes 3,000 km of 2D seismic survey and 8,000 sq km of 3D work. Block C has a 2-well commitment.

Blocks A, B, and H have no imminent well commitments, but the East Timor government has made its Block E offer conditional on ENI's increasing its work program to include a well in the third year drilled to 4,000 m.

Water depths in the awarded blocks vary from very shallow to areas as deep as 3,000 m in the Timor Trench.

Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said the firms have until June 30 to sign production-sharing contracts with the Ministry of Natural Resources, Minerals, and Energy.