- SK Earthon won the rights to develop two major offshore oil and gas blocks in Indonesia, boosting its Southeast Asia presence.
- The blocks hold billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of gas, and SK Earthon plans to conduct surveys and assessments over the next three years.
SK Earthon Co., the petroleum exploration and production (E&P) unit of South Korea’s SK Innovation, has secured rights to develop two major offshore oil and gas blocks in Indonesia. This marks a strategic expansion of the company’s upstream portfolio in Southeast Asia.
The company announced on Thursday, May 22, that it won the rights to explore the Serpang and Binaiya blocks through a competitive bidding process organised by the Indonesian government. The Serpang block lies northeast of Java Island, while the Binaiya block sits near the eastern Maluku Islands. Each block spans approximately 8,500 square kilometres—14 times the size of Seoul.
At the IPA Convex 2025 oil and gas exhibition, held from May 20 to 22 at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE), SK Earthon signed production sharing contracts (PSCs) with Indonesia’s upstream regulator, SKK Migas. Key attendees included Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia, SKK Migas CEO Dwi Soetjipto, and Kim Kyoung-jun, Head of SK Earthon’s Planning & Support Office.
These new assets strengthen SK Earthon’s strategic presence in the region and align with its “clustering” strategy, which focuses operations in high-potential zones to maximise efficiency and synergies. The company already holds assets in Vietnam and Malaysia and now extends its reach to Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest oil-producing nation.
“Building on our success in Peru and Vietnam, we plan to make Indonesia a key growth driver in our upstream portfolio,” said an SK Earthon official.
The Serpang block, located in one of Indonesia’s most prospective hydrocarbon basins, borders several producing fields. Industry experts estimate it may hold up to 1.2 billion barrels of oil and 6.3 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas in undiscovered reserves.
SK Earthon holds a 14% stake, Petronas (Malaysia) operates the block with a 51% stake, and Inpex Corp. (Japan) holds the remaining 35%.
The Binaiya block, near the Maluku Islands, also shows strong potential. Preliminary assessments suggest reserves of 6.7 billion barrels of oil and 15 tcf of gas. SK Earthon owns 22%, with Pertamina (Indonesia) and Petronas holding 56% and 22%, respectively.
Over the next three years, SK Earthon will conduct geological studies and seismic surveys to identify drilling prospects in both blocks.
The company recently discovered oil in Vietnam’s 15-1/05 and 15-2/17 blocks in the Cuu Long Basin, which produces over 50% of the country’s oil and gas. In Malaysia, SK Earthon secured the SK427 block in Sarawak in 2022 and later became the operator of the Ketapu block, holding an 85% stake in partnership with Petroleum Sarawak Exploration and Production (PSEP).
Meanwhile, SK Innovation continues to explore broader investment opportunities in Indonesia’s upstream sector. Its natural gas unit, SK Innovation E&S, is collaborating with SKK Migas on a joint study for cross-border carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects between Korea and Indonesia.
Since its spin-off in October 2021, SK Earthon has actively pursued overseas E&P opportunities while advancing low-carbon solutions such as CCS, leveraging its expertise in oil development.