10 percent of oil and gas projects delayed: BPMIGAS

At least five of 53 oil and gas projects have been delayed this year due to either financial or technical problems, according to upstream oil and gas regulator BPMIGAS.

?Five or 10 percent of the 53 oil and gas projects have been delayed this year,? Iwan Ratman, the head for the project management division at BPMIGAS said last week.

The five projects include the Ruby Field Development (Pearl Oil Sebuku Ltd), Muriah Development (Petronas Carigali Ltd), Karendan Gas Plant Facility (Elnusa Bangkanai Plant Energy Ltd), Air Itam Production Facility (JOB Pertamina-Golden Spike Indonesia) and Jambi Merang field (JOB Pertamina-Talisman Jambi Merang).

Iwan said that the delay was caused by several factors including financial problem, late budget approval, revision of plans of development (PoD), and a problem on in tender process as well as due land overlapping problem.

The Air Itam project, for example, was delayed due to financial problem because Golden Spike had not disbursed the required fund, he said. ?The Air Itam project will need at least US$100 million,? he added.

He said that the project should have been commenced in the fourth quarter, 2009. Due to the financial problem, the project could be only started in the second quarter, 2012.

In addition to the five projects, 16 other projects might also be behind schedule. They include Pondok Makmur (Pertamina EP), the Block A gas field development (Medco E&P Indonesia Malaka) and Dayung Early Compression (Conoco Philips Indonesia Ltd).

There are also a number of offshore oil and gas projects which could be delayed. They include Bawal field (ConocoPhillips Indonesia), Gajah Baru field (Premier Oil Natuna), and Wortel development field (Santos Ltd).

Of the delayed projects, only Jambi Merang which has already in production stage, he added. (*)