BPMIGAS approves $24.15b sector total expenditures for 2012

The expenditure of oil and gas contractors approved by oil and gas regulatory body for upstream operations BPMIGAS for 2012 reaches a total of US$24.5 billion, the agency announced.

The total spending consists of $20.9 billion for production activities proposed by 71 production sharing contractors (PSCs) in their annual budget and work program and $3.2 billion for exploration activities proposed by 183 PSCs.

BPMIGAS' spokesman Gde Pradnyana said that the amount did not include the spending of 21 PSCs which signed their contracts in November and December, this year.

?About $736 million of the budget allocated for production activities will be used for maintenance of production facilities,? he said.

He said that the maintenance of the production facilities should remain an important agenda because about 60 percent of the unplanned shutdown in the past were caused by damages in production facilities. ?This problem has resulted in the decline in production,? he added.

According to him, about78 percent of the $3.2 billion allocated for exploration will be used for drilling, 7 percent for geological survey and 14 percent for administrative works and the remainders for development. (godang)