MCL: Cepu oil production unaffected by protests

By Godang Sitompul

Mobil Cepu Limited, a subsidiary of US giant oil and gas company ExxonMobil, said that oil production from Banyu Urip field within Cepu Block has been producing normally and unaffected by the protests staged by a group of people.

?We are aware of the current protests in Bojonegoro that have been happening since Friday. We can confirm that to date, there has been no impact to our production from Banyu Urip Field in Cepu Block,? Communications Advisor Public & Government Affairs of MCL, Wigra Anggara Hanafiah, said.

Hadi Prasetyo, upstream authority BPMIGAS Representative Head Office for East Java, Papua and Maluku, said a group of people staged protest on road access to the Banyu Urip field, provoked by a local contractor who is disappointed with a project tender result.

Hadi said the local firm was seeking that it was directly appointed for certain works in the Cepu Block.

Mobil Cepu Ltd as the operator of the Cepu block will build a number of exploration and production facilities in order to meet the production target of 165,000 bpd of crude oil and 124 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of gas by 2014. The company is currently completing the production and operational facilities around 34 wells and a 95-km pipeline.

The Banyu Urip field is estimated to hold oil reserves of 450 million barrels. With the current production facilities, the oil field is able to produce 20,000 bpd. Up to now, the total production at the Banyu Urip field has reached 13 million barrels.

Editing by Roffie Kurniawan