House approves higher oil lifting, Banyu Urip output to be raised

By Bernard Loebs

The House of Representatives State Budget Committee approved on Monday an earlier decision by the House Commission VII on energy to increase the country?s oil lifting target in 2017 to 815,000 bpd from 780,000 bpd set by the government in the proposed 2017 State Budget.

Chairman of upstream oil and gas authority SKK Migas, Amien Sunaryadi said that his office is ready to meet the higher target, saying that the higher output will be primarily contributed by an increase in oil production from the Banyu Urip field in the Cepu block.

?Banyu Urip?s production will be increased from 165,000 bpd to 200,000 bpd. This is the duty of SKK Migas to achieve the target,? Amien said.

The Commission VII earlier this month revised upward the oil lifting assumption set by the government in the proposed 2017 State Budget to 815,000 bpd from 780,000 bpd. Lawmakers said that the higher oil lifting would help the government in getting more revenue to finance the state budget. This year?s oil lifting target is set at 820,000 bpd.

The lawmakers also said that production from Banyu Urip field should be increased to 200,000 bpd. SKK Migas has previously declined to approve a proposal from Cepu block operator ExxonMobil to increase the field?s output to 200,000 bpd.

Elsewhere, the House State Budget Committee also approved the Indonesia Crude Price assumption of US$45 per barrel in the 2017 State Budget.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak