Govt worried over declining oil output

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati said she was worried about the decline in the national oil output as it could force the government to revise this year's state budget, Kontan daily reported on Thursday.

The 2010 state budget assumes the national oil lifting to stand at 965,000 barrels per day (bpd), but the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has announced that the oil lifting from January to March 24 only reached 878,000 bpd.

Sri Mulyani said the lower-than-expected oil lifting would result in lower state revenue and make "the 2010 state budget a lie."

She noted however the government still sticks to the oil lifting assumption.

"Thus far, we still stick to the 965,000 bpd figures despite the fact that we have proposed changes in the government's internal talks," she said. (*)