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

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.