Caltex fails to increase production to offset CPP loss

Indonesia?s largest crude producer Caltex Pacific Indonesia (CPI) will begin to go through production decline after transferring Coastal Plain Pekanbaru (CPP) oil block to new operator, and in the short term, oil production enhancement programs carried out by the company failed to offset production loss from CPP.

?We are hoping to maintain production at 600,000 ? 610,000 barrels per day (BPD) throughout the whole year, ? said Humayunbosha, CPI president on a sideline of CPP block transferring ceremony in Jakarta Tuesday.

?Normally we are producing at 620,000 BPD, but in the past months we had been able to produce up to 650,000 BPD in the past months. Therefore after transferring CPP block which now produces 43,000 BPD, we are hoping to produce some 600,000 BPD this year,? he said.

Another company official said in July CPI only managed to produce 595,000 BPD including production from CPP block, and current production without CPP block is around 550,000 BPD.

In an interview with Petromindo.Com last February, Humayunbosha said that despite losing CPP block, CPI would be able to maintain its 620,000 BPD level of production since the company was carrying out various production enhancement programs in its oil fields.

?Apparently, despite efforts we took, we would not be able to significantly increase production in the short term,? he said.

Humayunbosha said production enhancement programs such as work over drillings, exploration drillings, water flood injection would still be carried out to increase production.

?In Minas field, enhancement program had shown result. We are now able to increase production from 115,000BPD to 120,000 BPD,? he said.

CPI is a wholly owned subsidiary of US oil giant ChevronTexaco. CPI had to surrender CPP to the operator, a consortium of Pertamina-and Riau government run company, after the production sharing contract expired this month. (alex)