Murphy Oil Corporation is currently drilling at intermediate depth in the Semai II block, offshore West Papua.
Murphy reported higher exploration expenses worldwide last year to $292.3 million due to, among others, higher seismic acquisition costs in the US, Indonesia, and Congo, the company informed shareholders yesterday.
State-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina acquired 15% participating interest in the block last year. Other partners in the block are PTT EP (Thailand) and Inpex Corp (Japan) with 28.3% interest each. Murphy Oil also owns 28.3% participating interest in the block.
These companies secured the block with signature bonus paid to government at US$11 million and exploration commitment cost of US$138 million for the first three years.