Pertamina’s president director, Karen Agustiawan said the Indonesian state-owned company would submit a fresh bid for an Iraqi oil block in the second round of bidding held by the Iraqi government.

She did not specify whether Pertamina's fresh bid was for the West Qurna block.

The company had earlier said it was withdrawing a bid for the West Qurna as the contract terms offered made the project uneconomic.

"The per-barrel fee was too low. The (income earned) per barrel must be calculated against the risk" of investing in the block, Agustiawan told the Dow Jones news wire yesterday.

Iraq's oil ministry had set upper limits of as little as $2 a barrel above minimum production targets for companies seeking to operate Iraqi oil blocks, prices at which most companies balked.

Dwi Martono, investment director at upstream unit Pertamina Hulu, said the state firm would have to team up with at least one other oil company in any oil development in Iraq, as Pertamina's daily oil production is less than 200,000 barrels per day, the minimum production specified by the Iraqi government for developers of its oil blocks.

Pertamina had submitted a joint bid with Malaysia's Petronas and China National Petroleum Corporation for the West Qurna block.

Meanwhile, Pertamina is also exploring opportunities to team up with Woodside Petroleum on upstream projects in the eastern part of Indonesia and northern Australia, following the signing of a memorandum of agreement last December.

Pertamina is bidding on a gas development project in Indonesia with Australia’s Woodside Energy, Agustiawan said.

The two companies are also evaluating bids for new blocks being tendered by BPMigas, Indonesia’s upstream regulator, the Dow Jones reported citing Gunung Sardjono, Pertamina's deputy director for planning.

Published: 03 July 2009 03:40 GMT  | Last updated: 03 July 2009 03:50 GMT