Minister Jonan urges Pertamina speed up production process
Thursday, August 1 2019 - 12:25 AM WIB
Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources Ignasius Jonan urges the state-owned energy company PT Pertamina to accelerate oil and gas production process as a move to limit the natural decline of the country’s oil and gas production.
“Pertamina’s decision making process on production has to be accelerated. (Production) mechanism has to be competitive,” Minister Jonan said after opening the Gas Indonesia Summit & Exhibition 2019 at the Jakarta Convention Center, Wednesday (31/07).
The decline of Pertamina’s oil and gas production has also been recorded by other oil and gas producers. However, in general, the oil production of the top ten and the top 20 oil and gas producers is usually in accordance with the target.
Minister Jonan said if the business process is not accelerated, he is doubtful that Pertamina would attain its oil and gas production target this year.
Minister Jonan made the comment on reports that a number of oil and gas blocks that have been handed over to Pertamina, such as the Mahakam block, has recorded lower production, compared to the production in previous years, when these blocks were operated by global oil and gas companies.
Minister Jonan said during a leaders meeting at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry on Monday (29/07) that the oil and gas lifting of 6 of the top ten oil and gas producers have declined.
Five of them are Pertamina’s subsidiaries, namely PT Pertamina EP, Pertamina Hulu Mahakam, Pertamina Hulu Energi Offshore South East Sumatra (PHE OSES), Pertamina Hulu Offshore North West Java (PHE ONWJ) and Pertamina Hulu Kalimantan Timur (PHKT).
Mahakam Block, which is now operated by PT Pertamina Hulu Mahakam, recorded the biggest fall in term of oil production, reaching only 34,680 barrels per day, or only 69 percent of the 2019 State Budget target.
The oil production of PHE OSES reached only 27,841 bpd or 87 percent of the 2019 target, while oil production of Pertamina EP stood at only 75,293 bpd or 89 percent of the 2019 State Budget.
PHE ONWJ realized oil production as of today reached only 28,405 bpd or 86 percent of the target, while Pertamina Hulu Kalimantan Timur realized production stood at only 10,663 bopd or 95 percent of the target.
Editing by Roffie Kurniawan