Government set to miss oil lifting target

The government is set to miss its oil lifting target this year primarily due to delay in the key production facility of the Banyu Urip field in Cepu block.

Head of upstream oil and gas authority SKK Migas Amien Sunaryadi said Monday that in the period of December 2014-November 2015, the country?s oil lifting stood at 777,700 bpd, which is lower than the 825,000 bpd target set in the 2015 state budget.

Meanwhile, gas lifting during the same period was only 6,597 mmscfd, or only 96.5 percent of the 6,835 mmscfd target set in the 2015 state budget.

Amien said that the realized oil and gas lifting during the period stood at 1,956,000 boepd, or 95.6 percent of the 2,046,000 boepd target set in the state budget.

?The failure to meet the lifting target this year because production at the Banyu Urip field has been delayed,? Amien said. The Banyu Urip field in East Java was supposed to have production level of 205,000 bpd in October-December 2015 period, but the key production facility has yet to start operation to date.

Amien said that oil lifting target for next year is preliminary set at 823,000 bpd.

He said that the failure to meet the lifting target consequently lowers the government?s revenue from the oil and gas sector this year to US$13.22 billion, compared to $14.99 billion set in the 2015 state budget. (*)