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talian oil and gas company Eni SpA has assured the Indonesian government that the company is here to stay, despite several oil and gas companies packing their bags after years of costly explorations in the archipelago that have returned little reward.

Speaking to reporters in Jakarta on Friday, visiting Eni CEO Paolo Scaroni said the firm, which is listed in both New York and Milan, aimed to build a stronger presence in Indonesia despite disappointments faced by its competitors.

“Eni has been present in Indonesia since 2001 […] and we plan to continue to invest because we have very promising blocks in front of us,” he said after a meeting with the country’s Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik at the latter’s headquarters in the capital, Jakarta.

“We see the [occurrence of] other companies leaving Indonesia as an opportunity for us to step in.”

Earlier this year, US-based firms ExxonMobil, Marathon, Hess and ConocoPhillips as well as Netherlands-based Tately NV all decided to return their blocks in the Makassar Strait after deeming the basins uneconomic.

Texas-based Anadarko, meanwhile, has sold its assets in Indonesia to the country’s state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina, hinting that it was ready to leave the country.

Scaroni said the Rome-based firm would not give up on exploring the archipelago, citing statements that Indonesia’s hydrocarbon potential had declined to be untrue.

The company, he said, was keen to take over the blocks that had been relinquished by other oil and gas contractors in addition to bidding for future tenders for the country’s basins.

“Our biggest discovery in Indonesia, which is Jangkrik Northeast offshore gas field [located in Muara Bakau block, Makassar Strait], is in a block relinquished by another company,” he said.

“We went there and have discovered gas reserves of around 200 million barrels of oil equivalent.”

Eni, which currently holds a 55 percent stake in the block, with the remaining stake held by French GDF Suez, plans to reach a production of 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) of gas from Jangkrik field by 2016.

The plan of development (POD) II for the Jangkrik project was approved by the country’s upstream oil and gas regulator SKKMigas in February this year.

The field is expected to produce 145.5 million metric standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of natural gas, which will be processed into liquefied natural gas (LNG) at the Bontang plant in East Kalimantan, according to SKKMigas data.

At least 40 percent of the LNG produced at Jangkrik field will be allocated to domestic LNG needs.

In addition, Carlo Russo, managing director of ENI Indonesia, Eni SpA’s subsidiary in the country, said the firm would invest US$400 million in the next four years for exploration in Indonesia.

ENI Indonesia will begin its drilling campaign at its Bulungan block in the Makassar Strait in September. In November, its will drill an exploration well in its Muara Bakau block, located in the same area.

Jero said the comments from the visiting CEO illustrated that Indonesia’s investment climate for the oil and gas sectors remained attractive for foreign investors.

Last year, the country’s investment climate was rocked following the sudden elimination of the erstwhile regulator BPMigas (which was replaced by the interim SKKMigas) following a court order.

 Besides Eni SpA, French Total E&P Indonesie and Canada’s Niko Resources are expected to start deep-water drilling work at several sites in Indonesian basins in the eastern part of the archipelago this year.