Pertamina targets jump in output
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
State-owned oil and gas company Pertamina plans to raise its upstream output, including oil, gas and geothermal steam, by about 84 percent over the next five years.
It expects to reach a total output of 470,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOEPD) by 2007, from the estimated 255 BOEPD next year, according to Pertamina's 2002 year-end report.
The report said oil output was expected to rise 28 percent to 180,000 barrels per day (BPD) in 2007 from 140,000 BPD this year, while gas output was projected to increase 69 percent to 1,500 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) from 900 MMCFD and geothermal steam was to increase by 428 percent to 370 megawatt hours per day (MWhD) from 70 MWhD.
This year, Pertamina produced 266,933 BOEPD, up from 251,301 BOEPD last year. Oil output stands at 107,035 BPD of oil this year, while gas output was at 885 MMCFD, and geothermal steam at 29.013 tons per day.
Pertamina predicts a slight drop in its upstream output next year, as output from old oil fields dwindle. It said output could drop to 255,000 BOEPD, down 11,000 BOEPD from this year's rate.
A number of new oil discoveries have yet to go on stream in the absence of exploration spending over the past few years.
Pertamina said on Wednesday it had discovered large oil and gas deposits at its Gunung Kemala wells in the Muara Enim district of South Sumatra.
The new deposits may hold about 230 million barrels of oil in reserves and another 590 billion cubic feet of gas, Pertamina's local general manager for upstream operations Kun Kurnely told Antara.
A Pertamina spokesperson added that further drilling would verify whether the amount matched the initial findings.
Facing a possible decline in oil reserves, Pertamina is expanding its production base to sites outside of Indonesia.
According to the report, Pertamina will start oil explorations in the Block-3 western desert area of Iraq next year.
Last year, it also signed a deal with the state oil companies of Vietnam and Malaysia to work together in seeking new oil reserves abroad.
Pertamina's drive to increase its reserves comes in the wake of a new oil and gas law that will end the long-held monopoly rights of the state company.
At 107,000 BPD in crude oil production, the company accounts for less than one-tenth of Indonesia's total crude output of 1.2 million BPD. The biggest producer here is American firm PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia, with an oil output of about 700,000 BPD.
Pertamina will invest about US$3.57 billion in developing its upstream sector over the next five years.
Pertamina president Baihaki Hakim, at a year-end presentation on Pertamina's performance earlier this week, said the additional output would more than double Pertamina's next profit, increasing it to Rp 21.9 trillion (about $2.43 billion) from about Rp 10 trillion this year.