Medco to up average output to more than 90,000 bpd

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Publicly listed energy company PT Medco Energi International said on Friday it planned to raise its average oil production to more than 90,000 barrel per day (bpd) this year from an average output of 82,000 bpd last year.

Medco's chief executive officer (CEO) Hilmi Panigoro said the extra production would come the Matra and Soka oil fields in South Sumatra, where the company would resume production.

"We once reached the 90,000 bpd production level. With the resumption of the fields, we expect our production to top the level," he told the Jakarta Post after the ceremony where the company granted the Ministry of Social Affairs Rp 500 million (US$49,000) in aid for flood victims.

The aid was part of the Rp 1.5 billion aid provided by the company for flood victims nationwide.

He didn't specify production figures of the fields as well as the investment to be put by the company there.

But Hilmi pointed out that an oil company needed to spend between US$50 million and $150 million to produce between 10,000 and 15,000 bpd.

Aside resuming production at the fields, Medco also planned to acquire two or three oil companies this year to increase its oil output, he said.

Next year, he added, the company's oil output would further grow with production starting at the Tiaka offshore field in Central Sulawesi.

Medco has allocated about $50 million to develop the Tiaka field, he said.

Medco is 67.83 percent owned by New Links --an alliance between Credit Suisse First Boston and the Panigoro family--, 17.97 percent by PT Medco Duta and 14.20 percent by the investing public.

It has five units, that is onshore drilling company PT Medco Antareja, offshore drilling firm PT Apexindo Pratama Duta, oil and gas firms PT Exspan Nusantara and PT Exspan Kalimantan and methanol producer PT Medco Methanol Bunyu.