•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   

Local oil and gas company PT Medco Energi Internasional is seeking British energy giant BP’s stake in the lucrative Offshore Northwest Java gas and oil block off the coast of West Java with an estimated cost of $600 million.

Lukman Mahfoed, Medco’s corporate project director, said on Monday that the company was conducting an evaluation of the project.

“Together with a partner, we will launch a bid for the BP asset,” Lukman said, while declining to reveal the other firm.

In addition to Medco, state oil and gas firm PT Pertamina and PT Indika Energy, have teamed up to secure BP’s interest in the block.

Basuki Trikora Putra, Pertamina’s vice president of communications, said the company had appointed an adviser to handle the purchase of the stake, which he said would be paid out of the company internal reserves.

“Indika has appointed Credit Suisse as its adviser, while Pertamina has appointed another adviser, which will conduct a review not only of the financial aspects, but also the technical and legal ones,” he said.

BP owns a 46 percent stake in the block, with China Offshore Oil Corporation holding 36.7 percent and the remaining interest split between Inpex, Orchard Energy, Talisman and Cieco Sumatra.

On Feb. 25, BP announced that it planned to off-load the stake, saying it longer fit the company’s long-term strategy, which was to focus on liquefied natural gas development in the Tangguh area and other projects. The company said that it expected the sale to be completed by the end of this year.

PT Energi Mega Persada, a subsidiary of PT Bakrie & Brothers, owned by the family of state welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie, is also reportedly interested in the BP stake, as well as the China National Petroleum Company. Herwin Hidayat, Energi Mega Persada’s investor relations officer, declined to comment on the issue.

The West Java block includes more than 700 development wells, 170 platforms, 40 processing and service facilities and about 1,600 kilometers of underwater pipelines. It produced 270 million cubic feet of gas and 20,000 barrels of oil per day in 2008.

Nico Kanter, BP’s Indonesian unit head, said the company was still arranging the sale of its interest in the block and that the details were confidential