BP Migas approves Pertamina's work program and budget

The upstream oil and gas regulatory body, BP Migas has approved state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina's work program and budget (WP&B) for this year.

The agency's chairman Kardaya Warnika said in Jakarta on Wednesday that BP Migas had issued 12 licenses for Pertamina to carry out drilling activities and other 117 licenses for development of oil and gas fields.

He said that BP Migas had approved all of the required permits proposed by Pertamina for this calendar year.

According to him, Pertamina initially asked for 300 permits for oil and gas field development and 40 permits for drilling activities. "But Pertamina said later that it would need only 117 permits for development of oil and gas fields and 12 permits for drilling activities," he said.

Earlier, Pertamina's president director Ari H. Soemarno said that the company had set a target to drill between 130 and 140 wells in 2007 or 12 wells drilled per month.

Ari said in Jakarta last week that the company has asked permission for conducting drilling activities without having to wait for the approval of POD and WP&B from BP Migas because otherwise the company would not be able to run its well drilling program on schedule. (*)