Banyu Urip's output to rise by 10,000 bopd in September

The Banyu Urip field in Cepu block, jointly operated by Mobil Cepu Limited (MCL) and PT Pertamina EP Cepu, will bring an additional output of 10,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) in September this year thanks to the operation of some additional production facilities, according to upstream authority SKK Migas.

The statement was made SKK Migas?s interim Chairman J. Widjonarko in his presentation on Thursday during the visit of Vice President Boediono to the office of MCL in Bojonegoro, the capital of Bojonegoro regency, East Java. Present at the presentation were among others Presidential Working Unit for the Supervision and Management of Development (UKP4) Head Kuntoro Mangkusubrot, Vice Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Susilo Siswo Utomo, MCL President Jon. M. Gibbs.

Widjonarko said the Banyu Urip field has been operating since August 2009 with early production facilities. Now, it produces 29,000 bopd. The field has cumulatively produced 36 million barrels of oil worth US$3.47 billion.

Construction of additional production facilities are now in progress at the field and has been 87 percent completed.

?As of September 2014, production is targeted to increase by 10.000 bopd thanks to the additions to early production facilities. It (the production) will gradually rise to reach its peak 165,000 bopd in 2015,? Widjonarko was quoted as saying in a statement from SKK Migas.

Based on its Plan of Development (PoD), investment at Banyu Urip will reach $2.525 billion, including $2.188 billion for the development of production facilities, $337 million for well drilling. The production facilities development is divided into five Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts aimed to develop Central Production Facility (CPF), 72-km onshore pipeline, offshore pipeline and mooring tower, Floating Storage Off-loading (FSO) and infrastructure facilities respectively.

Widjonarko said the EPC works are ongoing with various stages of progress.

?We should be proud of the fact that all the five EPC consortiums are led by Indonesian companies,? he said.

Meanwhile, Gibbs noted that MCL supports SKK Migas? policy requiring it to increase local contents in the development of the project. Aside from the fact that all the EPC consortiums are led by Indonesian companies, the project also involves 450 national and local subcontractors, including 85 percent of them from Tuban and Bojonegoro. The project also involves 9,100 Indonesian workers, including 60 percent of them from Tuban and Bojonegoro.

?Banyu Urip field is a world-class project being developed by the Indonesian people,? Gibbs said.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon