The government plans to instruct state-owned energy company Pertamina to assume control of unsold oil and gas blocks as the government puts seven blocks up for auction, including four onstream blocks.

"I plan to assign Pertamina to closed or unsold blocks. We will draft a regulation if necessary," the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s director for oil and gas, Djoko Siswanto, said in a press briefing in Jakarta on Thursday.

His statement came two days after he called Pertamina "lazy" for preferring to buy oil and gas blocks in other countries instead of carrying out exploration at home.

Pertamina upstream director Dharmawan Samsu said on Wednesday that the company was in the process of finalizing its exploration plan and formulating a strategy to maintain the production rate of the existing oil and gas blocks.

"We will talk in person with [Djoko Siswanto] regarding our upstream plans," he said.

Djoko made the statement after he announced that the onstream West Kampar Block in Riau was on the auction list, along with three other onstream blocks -- South Jambi B, Selat Panjang and Makassar Strait. The government is also auctioning three exploration blocks -- Banyumas, Andika Bumi Kita and Southeast Mahakam.

The deadline for bidding for the seven blocks is November. (bbn)