Govt announces new aging field regulation
Saturday, April 5 2008 - 12:27 AM WIB
?There are more than 13,000 aging fields in the country, 5,000 of which could produce 5,000 to 12,000 barrels per day (bpd),? Director General of Oil and Gas at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Luluk Sumiarso said Friday.
Out of the 13,824 fields now exsiting in the country, only 745 are active, Luluk said. Most of the aging fields are located in the working area of state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina?s unit, PT Pertamina EP.
According to the ministry, 3,623 aging fields are located in the southern part of Sumatra, 2,392 in the eastern part of Sumatra, 1,633 in the central part of Sumatra, 3,143 in East Kalimantan, 100 in South Kalimantan, 2,496 in Central and East Java and Madura, 229 in Seram, and 208 in Papua.
The new ministerial regulation defines aging fields as crude oil fields that were drilled and started producing before Dec. 31,1970.
Under the 1996 ministerial decree on aging fields, only cooperatives, Pertamina or the ministry's oil and gas directorate are allowed to operate aging fields. Under the new regulation, however, the operators have been expanded, according to the ministry's Upstream Director R.Priyono.
?Most activities in the oil sector are still controlled by state-owned and private companies. The regulation give chances for local cooperatives (KUD) and local government-owned enterprises (BUMD) to work in the sector,? he said.
Priyono said the KUD dan BUMD would serve as sub-contractors with an obligation of delivering their output to the concession owner. ?All oil production should be transferred to the contractors, otherwise they will be charged with crime,? Priyono said.
A KUD or BUMD has to sign a contract with a contractor, which should be reported to oil and gas upstream regulator BPMIGAS and be approved by the directorate general of oil and gas. The contract is valid for five years but the contractual period can be extended depending on the size of the reserves, he said. (godang)