House commission approves lower 2018 oil lifting target

The House of Representatives Commission VII on energy and mining approved on Tuesday a number of economic assumptions including oil and gas lifting proposed by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to be used in drafting the 2018 state budget.

The ministry said in a statement that Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Ignasius Jonan proposed a lower oil lifting assumption of 771,000-815,000 bpd for the 2018 state budget. In comparison, the 2017 state budget assumes an oil lifting of 815,000 bpd. As has been reported by this portal, at a meeting last week with the House State Budget Committee, Director General of Oil and Gas IGN Wiratmaja Pudja also proposed lower oil lifting target of 800,000 bpd for next year.

Jonan, however, proposed higher natural gas lifting assumption of 1.19 million-1.24 million boepd, thus making the overall oil and gas lifting target in next year?s state budget slightly higher at 1.97 million-2.05 million boepd. The 2017 state budget assumes oil and gas lifting of 1.97 million boepd.

Meanwhile, the average Indonesia Crude Price (ICP) assumption in the 2018 state budget is proposed higher at US$45-$50 per barrel, compared to $45 per barrel assumption in the 2017 state budget. Wiratmaja earlier proposed higher ICP assumption of $55 per barrel.

The Commission VII will hold further rounds of deliberation of the economic assumptions to be used in the 2018 state budget prior to finalization by the House State Budget Committee.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak