JAKARTA. State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina says it has sent its third letter to the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry emphasizing its readiness to manage the Mahakam block in East Kalimantan, which is due to be vacated by Total EP Indonesie, the local unit of the French oil company.

“We are 100 percent ready to manage the block and we have sent an official letter to the ministry three times,” the firm’s upstream oil and gas director, Muhammad Husein, said as quoted by kompas.com on Monday.

Pertamina said it was disappointed by the ministry, which has not yet made a decision regarding the Mahakam block’s contract that is set to expire in 2017.

Husein said the company would send a fourth letter to the government if there was no response in the coming few months.

He added that Pertamina’s experience in taking over the West Madura Offshore (WMO) and Offshore Northwest Java (ONJ) blocks from foreign contractors made it ideally qualified to handle the Mahakam block.

Editor: Asnil Amri