Indonesia's state-run oil company PT Pertamina will operate the Mahakam natural gas block starting from Jan. 1, 2018, the energy minister told reporters on Friday.

Minister Sudirman Said said Pertamina had met on Friday with Total and Inpex, who are the current operators of the block, to discuss the transition process.

Pertamina had earlier said it would invest around $2 billion annually into gas block if given control of Mahakam, and target output of 1.2 billion to 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day (bcfd).