Govt promises to boost oil output by 300,000 bpd
The Jakarta Post Jakarta
The government reiterated its pledge on Tuesday to boost the country's oil output by 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) by 2008- 2009 to meet increasing demand on the domestic market.
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Tuesday that the efforts to increase production would include optimizing the exploitation of aging oil fields and the enhancement of oil production in marginal fields through the implementation of enhanced oil recovery and other advanced technology.
Purnomo was speaking at the opening of the three-day Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Exhibition and Conference, which is being sponsored by the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Society of Indonesian Petroleum Engineers and the Oil and Gas Regulatory Implementing Body (BP Migas).
The condition of existing oil fields showed that the rate of natural depletion with no additional work was around 10 percent to 15 percent per year.
"From the economic crisis in 1997 until 2000, new investment declined, thereby reducing the level of oil output by around 10 percent to 15 percent per year, so that today it stands at 1.1 million bpd," Purnomo told the audience at the three-day event, which is being attended by 45 local and international companies.
"Seventy percent of today's production comes from mature oil fields, of which around 55 percent are located in Central Sumatra."
"To increase the supply of oil, we need to advance and innovate in the technology field to extend the oil reserves and to discover new oil sources in remote areas and deep seas," he aid, adding that the domestic demand for oil was increasing by around 7 percent every year.
Purnomo explained that his ministry and BP Migas have been preparing two packages of incentives aimed at encouraging investors to put their money into oil prospecting and production in the country.
One of the packages was aimed at encouraging investors to develop 30 to 50 marginal oil fields, which were now producing only between 5,000 bpd and 7,000 bpd. Currently, there are around 50 marginal fields nationwide, according to BP Migas.
This package will possibly help increase oil production by as much as 50,000 bpd.
The other incentive package was aimed at improving the exploitation of old oil fields, which have suffered tremendous declines in production.
BP Migas deputy head Kardaya Warnika explained that multinational companies -- including Caltex, Medco, China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) and Unocal -- had submitted lists of aging oil fields, mostly located in onshore areas, to BP Migas to avail of the second incentive package. These companies owned between 20 and 30 oil fields here. (001)