Chevron celebrates 11 billion barrels of oil production in Sumatra

PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia (CPI) held a ceremony on Tuesday to mark the production of 11 billion barrels of oil from its fields in Sumatra.

"The production achievement sets a milestone in Indonesia's oil and gas industry," oil and gas upstream regulator BPMIGAS said in a statement.

The ceremony in Minas, Riau was attended by Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro, Director General of Oil and Gas Evita Legowo, BPMIGAS' chairman R Priyono, CPI President Directro Suwito Anggoro and Chevron Asia Pacific's Exploration and Production President Jim Blackwell.

CPI has been producing oil from Sumatra in 1940s. It started in Duri field in 1941 and Minas field in 1944. It now produces oil from Rokan, Siak and Block MFK (Mountain Front Kuantan).

According to BPMIGAS' data, CPI?s total production reached 393,083 barrels per day (bpd) as of February 12, 2009 lower than the average production rate of 407,466 bpd in 2008.

Priyono said that the despite the drop, the current rate of Chevron?s production was still higher than the government?s target of 380,330 bpd set for this year. (godang)