Govt. expects higher 2009 oil exploration: BP Migas
The government expects oil contractors operating in Indonesia to boost exploration spending by 50% to $2.7 billion in 2009 from $1.8 billion in 2008, a senior official at the upstream oil and gas regulatory body told Reuters on Friday.
"It was very difficult to find rigs last year, oil contractors only explored 80 wells. Contractors are expected to explore about 182 wells this year," BP Migas deputy chief Achmad Luthfi said in an interview.
Luthfi said exploration last year, which fell short of a target of $2.2 billion, had been hampered by the cost of oil services and difficulty finding rigs.
Luthfi said most of exploration spending this year would be conducted in the deep waters of the Makassar Strait, where several oil companies are planning to explore including Exxon Mobil and Marathon oil Corp.
Indonesia expects output of crude oil and condensate to fall by 1.8% in 2009, hit by a drop in output by the country's top oil producer Chevron Corp .
Indonesia expects to produce 960,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil and condensate this year, against an estimated 978,000 last year.
It has about 8.4 billion barrels of proven and potential crude reserves and 182 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves.
"It was very difficult to find rigs last year, oil contractors only explored 80 wells. Contractors are expected to explore about 182 wells this year," BP Migas deputy chief Achmad Luthfi said in an interview.
Luthfi said exploration last year, which fell short of a target of $2.2 billion, had been hampered by the cost of oil services and difficulty finding rigs.
Luthfi said most of exploration spending this year would be conducted in the deep waters of the Makassar Strait, where several oil companies are planning to explore including Exxon Mobil and Marathon oil Corp.
Indonesia expects output of crude oil and condensate to fall by 1.8% in 2009, hit by a drop in output by the country's top oil producer Chevron Corp .
Indonesia expects to produce 960,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil and condensate this year, against an estimated 978,000 last year.
It has about 8.4 billion barrels of proven and potential crude reserves and 182 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves.