Indonesia is planning to offer 10 oil and gas working areas up for auction this year, including a block in the South China Sea, amid efforts to boost energy production and make new discoveries, a senior energy ministry official said on Monday (Jan 30).

Tutuka Ariadji said that the 10 sites include working areas in Natuna D Alpha, which are giant gas fields in the South China Sea. A development plan for a US$3 billion Natuna gas field was approved by Indonesia last year.

“Hopefully this year, in May, we will be ready to launch the offering. We also need to gauge the interest for this Natuna block before we open this to public offering,” he said.

Tutuka added that he was hoping for stalled gas mega-projects, including Indonesia Deepwater Development (IDD) and Masela, to resume. The country missed its oil and gas lifting targets last year, amid project delays and unexpected shutdowns.

For 2030, Indonesia is aiming for crude oil lifting of one million barrels per day and gas lifting of 12,000 million standard cubic feet per day.

Upstream oil and gas regulator SKK Migas said that oil giant Chevron is close to reaching a deal to transfer its stake in IDD to an investor. Tutuka declined to disclose details of the discussion on this.

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Meanwhile, Indonesian state oil and gas company Pertamina is in talks with Shell, to potentially take over its partnership in the Masela project.

Last year, Indonesia put 13 oil and gas fields up for auction. It has appointed contractors for six of them. REUTERS