PetroChina, Medco start production

PetroChina, Medco start production

JAKARTA: Indonesia raised its oil production 0.8 percent in November as PetroChina Corp. and PT Medco Energi Internasional started pumping from new fields.

Output rose to 946,431 barrels per day (bpd) from 939,200 bpd in October, Trijana Kartoatmodjo, deputy of operations at Downstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Body (BP Migas) said on Tuesday.

"Oil is flowing smoothly from Medco's Tiaka field while PetroChina has started producing from Selawati last month," he said. "But we're still missing the output target for this year."

PetroChina began pumping 12,800 barrels of crude oil a day from three areas in Jambi. PetroChina and state oil and gas firm PT Pertamina have also started producing from Sukowati and Gondang fields in East Java, and Selawati field in the eastern Indonesian province of Papua.

Medco's Tiaka field in Central Sulawesi is producing 5,000 bpd this month, Trijana said.

A decline in production will make Indonesia, the second- smallest member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, a net importer of crude oil this year. The country has failed since early 2002 to meet its target, currently at 1.451 million bpd. -- Bloomberg