Indonesia oil output falls again in June: Report

Indonesia's production of crude oil continued to decline in June, slipping to 954,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 962,700 bpd in May, industry sources said on Tuesday.

But condensate output rose to 128,000 bpd in June from 113,000 bpd in the previous month, sources were quoted by Reuters as saying.

"Production in some oil wells is continuing to decline but not much. Crude production is 954,000 bpd and condensate output rose to 128,000 bpd in June," one source said.

Output is at the lowest level since before 1993, according to BP's Statistic Review of World Energy.

The country, Asia's only OPEC member, has been a net importer of crude oil since early this year although Mines and Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro has said he expected the situation to be temporary.

Caltex Pacific Indonesia, the biggest oil contractor, produced 513,000 bpd in June, slightly higher than the 505,900 bpd pumped in May.

"Caltex has increased output in June because it has developed some wells in its operation areas," a second source said.

The second source said BP Migas, the government oil and gas watchdog, had asked several oil contractors to increase oil production as much as possible. He gave no details.

Under the OPEC cartel, Indonesia has an output quota of 1.322 million bpd. This will rise to 1.347 million bpd from Aug. 1 when the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is expected to raise output limits by 500,000 bpd. Condensate is not included in OPEC's quotas.

The U.S. Embassy in Jakarta said in a report in April that Indonesian oil production declined in 2003 for the 10th straight year to average 1.1 million bpd due to aging fields, lower spending in exploration and bureaucratic delays by the upstream regulator.

"Reversing this trend in the near-term is unlikely," said the report.(*)