RI aims to up oil output to 1.3m bpd by 2008
Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In an attempt to keep the country from being a net importer, Indonesia plans to increase oil output to 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2008, says a top executive.
At present, the oil output stands at slightly below 1 million bpd.
Chairman of the Oil and Gas Upstream Regulatory Agency (BP Migas) Rachmat Sudibyo said on Wednesday that the additional production of crude oil and condensate would come from new fields as well as from intensifying yields from old ones.
"We're expecting 180,000 bpd from the Cepu oil field and 150,000 bpd from the Jeruk field," he said, referring to two key oil fields located in East Java.
Rachmat also said that the country was counting on a total of 30,000 bpd from several marginal fields across the archipelago.
The preparations to begin oil production in Cepu have come to a halt pending the settlement of a dispute between state oil and gas firm Pertamina and ExxonMobil, which currently holds the concession rights to operate in the area.
Over the past three years, ExxonMobil has been trying to extend its contract, which will expire in 2010, but Pertamina has so far refused an extension.
The Jeruk field, whose concession lays in the hands of Australia's third largest oil and gas producer Santos Ltd., is currently being prepared for production.
Also Rachmat said that PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia would utilize chemical technology to increase output and impede decline at its fields in Riau. An additional 30,000 bpd was expected to be derived from that effort.
Oil fields in Riau produce about half of the nation's total oil output.
"The government is trying to change from petroleum-related fuels to natural gas and geothermal sources of fuel, so that the domestic demand will go down," said Rachmat.
The country's oil output has fallen by 5 percent annually over the last decade to less than one million bpd, mainly due to aging oil fields and a lack of exploration for new ones.
Increasing domestic demand, which rises by an average of 7 percent per year, combined with the declining output, sent Indonesia's crude oil exports down to 30,000 bpd in 2004, roughly a third of what it booked the previous year.
Should the country become a net crude oil importer, it will likely be asked to leave the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said last month that Indonesia, the only Southeast Asian OPEC member, might withdraw its membership from the oil cartel.
"The study is not completed yet," added Rachmat, who chairs the team looking into the benefits and disadvantages of leaving OPEC.
He did not elaborate on the specific time frame.
In January, Indonesia produced an average of 952,600 barrels per day of crude, well below its 1.4 million bpd quota set by OPEC.