Indonesia offers three new oil and gas blocks

Indonesia opened a round of oil and gas block tenders on Tuesday, offering three new blocks to contractors, an energy ministry official said, amid efforts to increase energy reserves.

Indonesia's oil and gas production has been on a downtrend in the past decade due to depleting reserves, and the government has pledged to offer dozens of new blocks in coming years to reverse the trend.

The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry on Tuesday offered the Gagah oil and gas block, onshore South Sumatra Province, with estimated resources of 173 million barrels of oil or 1.1 trillion cubic feet of gas, ministry official Tri Winarno said.

The ministry also offered the Perkasa block, which is located onshore and offshore East Java province, Tri told participants at an Indonesia Petroleum Association conference.

The Perkasa block has an estimated 228 million barrels of oil resources or 1.3 trillion cfg, he said.

The government directly offered the Lavender gas block to state energy firm Pertamina. The Lavender block is located onshore and offshore South Sulawesi and has estimated gas resources of around 10 trillion cubic feet.

Tri said the government will offer these blocks with attractive fiscal facilities, flexible contract schemes and other incentives to provide a, "more comfortable environment for oil and gas investment."

At the same event, the ministry said Huatong Services Indonesia has been awarded the Air Komering block in the southern region of Sumatra from the previous round of tenders.

(Reporting by Bernadette Christina Munthe and Dewi Kurniawati; Writing by Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Christopher Cushing)