Caltex to increase oil output by 25,000 bpd
JAKARTA (JP): The country's largest oil producer PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia planned to increase its crude oil output by at least 25,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 795,000 bpd next year, company president Baihaki H. Hakim said yesterday.
Baihaki said the output increase would be made through the application of more advanced enhanced oil recovery technology in its 10 largest oil fields, including Duri and Minas.
"Caltex is known to be the leader in this technology," Baihaki said on the sidelines of the ceremony to sign the production sharing contracts and technical operation contracts between the state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina and eight new investors.
Caltex, which is jointly owned by the giant United States oil companies Chevron Corp. and Texaco Inc., currently produces crude oil from four blocks in Riau -- the Pakanbaru Coastal Plains, Rokan, Mount Front Kuantan and Siak.
The company accounts for 45 percent of the country's total oil output with a production capacity of 770,100 bpd.
Baihaki said the company's program to increase its output complements the country's plan to meet the new oil output quota allocated by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
OPEC in its recent ministerial conference in Jakarta increased all of its member countries' output quotas, allowing Indonesia's oil supply to rise by 9.5 percent to 1.456 million bpd for the first half of next year.
"As a matter of fact, we had planned to increase our output before OPEC decided on the quota increase," Baihaki said.
Retail
Baihaki added that Caltex was currently undertaking a large- scale promotion of the company's new five-pointed-star logo which was introduced three years ago.
Thousands of billboards carrying the logo have been erected at strategic locations throughout the country, raising speculation over whether Caltex is planning to expand beyond the oil business.
Baihaki admitted the large-scale logo promotion was intended to create brand-name awareness among the public as part of the company's preparation to enter the retail business in oil products.
He said the company had started making such preparations after the government signaled that it would open the downstream sector of the oil industry to private businesses in the near future, which has thus far been monopolized by Pertamina.
Indonesia and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has agreed to open the downstream industry for oil products to the private sector by 2003 as part of the implementation of the ASEAN free trade area.
"In the future, you will see shopping centers near gas stations where we'll also sell our products," Baihaki said. He clarified, however, that Caltex would not enter any other sector so that it could focus on oil products.
Baihaki said Caltex was not interested in developing private refineries in Indonesia since it currently operated several refineries in Thailand and Singapore.
"There is currently overproduction in the Southeast Asian region," Baihaki said. (jsk)