Oil companies, including some industry heavyweights, remain upbeat about the potential for major hydrocarbon finds, especially gas, in waters offshore Indonesia’s Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (Aceh) province, even though recent exploration drilling might have failed to find the desired sweet spot.

Spanish operator Repsol and co-venturer Petronas of Malaysia have been digesting the recent disappointing results on the Rencong-1X wildcat on offshore Aceh’s Andaman III block.

However, Fatar Yani Abdurrahman, deputy head of Indonesia’s upstream regulator SKK Migas, said it expects Repsol to drill one more time, even though there is no such commitment.