Pertamina may raise output by 56 percent next year

Pertamina may raise output by 56 percent next year

JAKARTA (JP): State oil and gas company Pertamina could raise
its oil output by 56 percent next year to 117,000 barrels per day
(bpd) following the recent discovery of significant oil reserves
in Prabumulih, South Sumatra, the company said on Monday.

Pertamina spokesman Ramli Djaafar said that the company's
exploration and production unit had found oil and gas reserves in
Tepus and Sopa which could produce 24,000 bpd and 18,000 bpd.

Ramli said that Pertamina plans to begin production at Tepus
and Sopa starting in the 1999/2000 fiscal year.

Thus far, Pertamina had not yet made a final decision whether
to realize this plan, "However, given the huge reserves in both
locations, it is highly possible that we shall start developing
the reserves according to our planned schedule," Ramli told The
Jakarta Post.

According to Ramli, Tepus, located 15 kilometers northwest of
Prabumulih in the Talang Akar block, has a reserve of 155.86
million barrels of oil and 150.96 billion cubic feet of gas.

Pertamina can exploit a maximum of 51.95 million barrels of
oil and 120.77 billion cubic feet of gas from the reserves, he
said.

Sopa, located 75 kilometers northwest of Prabumulih in the
Baturaja block, has a proven oil reserve of 57 million barrels of
oil, of which Pertamina can exploit a maximum of 17 million
barrels.

Pertamina wholly owns and operates several oil fields in
Indonesia: Prabumulih and Rantau in North Sumatra; Cepu in
Central Java; and Karangampel in West Java.

It also has stakes in several oil and gas fields through
production sharing contracts.

On behalf of the government, Pertamina manages all of the
country's oil and gas contractors, for which it receives 2
percent of the government's oil and gas revenues as a management
fee.

Ramli said that Pertamina's own oil and gas fields currently
have a combined output of 195 million barrels of oil and gas per
day (boepd) -- including 75 million bpd of oil and 674 million
cubic feet per day of gas -- making it the country's fifth
largest oil and gas producer.

The country's largest oil and gas producer is PT Caltex
Pacific Indonesia, a joint venture of the United States energy
companies Chevron and Texaco, with an output of 697,000 boepd.

Second largest is Mobil Oil Indonesia, a subsidiary of the
United States energy company Mobil Corp., with 349,000 boepd.
Then comes Vico Indonesia, a subsidiary of the U.S.-based Union
Texas Petroleum, with 246,000 boepd, followed by Atlantic
Richfield Indonesia Company, a subsidiary of the U.S.-based
Atlantic Richfield Company, with 234,000 boepd.

Ramli said that Pertamina would become the country's fourth
largest oil and gas producer with an output of 237,000 boepd when
production at Tepus and Sopa begins next year.

According to Ramli, Pertamina currently has an oil production
cost of US$3.81 per barrel.

Pertamina's Karangampel, Prabumulih, Rantau and Cepu oil
fields are among the country's 10 oil fields with the lowest oil
production costs.

The lowest production cost is at the Ogan Komering oil field,
owned by Canada's Talisman, at $2.24 per barrel. This is followed
by Caltex's Coastal Plain Pakanbaru field ($2.3), Pertamina's
Karangampel field ($2.46), Mobil's B Block field ($2.95),
Caltex's Mount Front Kuantan field ($3.09), Pertamina's Pabumulih
field ($3.21), Caltex's Rokan field ($3.51), Conoco's Natuna Sea
field ($3.73), Pertamina's Rantau field ($3.87) and Pertamina's
Cepu field ($4.52) (jsk)