Caltex's crude oil production falls below target

The oil production of PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia (CPP) has declined to 700,700 barrels per day, below the target level of 744,000 bpd because some parts of the oil giant's oil wells in Riau have dried up, according to the company's top executive.

The president of the oil giant, Humayunbosha, said in Jakarta on Thursday that his office could not find yet why some of the company's oil wells had depleted much faster than initially estimated. "We don't yet the cause of the decline. But for sure, oil reserves in some of the oil wells have started to decline," he added.

Humyunbosha said that experts at the company were conducting a study to find out the cause of the depletion. "We hope the study could be concluded next year and the result of which could help the company find appropriate technology to return the production level back to its initial position," he added.

Meanwhile the director for operation and production of the state oil company Pertamina, Gatot K. Wiroyudo said that he had not been informed about the decline in the production of the state oil company's production contractor.

"I don't know yet? I don't think there is a production decline," he said,

CPI, which achieved its peak production level of 780,000 bpd last year, will lose one of its oil fields, the Coastal Plain Pekanbaru, when the contract to operate the field expires in August next year. The government has decided to handover the management and operation of the oil block to the provincial administration. (*)