Total to cut crude output

Total to cut crude output

SINGAPORE (Reuters): Indonesian state-oil company Pertamina has requested Total SA cut its local crude oil production to 25,000 barrels per day (bpd) as part of OPEC cuts, Total general manager in Indonesia, Bernard Vitry, said yesterday.

Vitry told Reuters by telephone the cut represented a reduction of around five percent in output of its two crudes -- Handil and Bekapai.

Total is operator, but Pertamina and Japan's Indonesia Petroleum Ltd (INPEX) are shareholders.

Earlier, a Pertamina official said the state company had sent a letter to oil contractors telling them to make cuts in line with an agreement of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to reduce output 1.245 million bpd.

Under the agreement Indonesia agreed to cut production by 70,000 bpd from a ceiling of 1.38 million bpd.

Vitry said Total in Indonesia was currently producing 1.2-1.3 billion cubic feet per day of gas and 35,000 to 40,000 bpd of field condensate. Condensate production is not included in OPEC quotas.