Minister: Oil lifting target won?t be achieved

Petromindo|Lucky

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Ignasius Jonan said on Thursday that the government?s oil lifting target this year of 815,000 will not be realized.

He told a press conference that average oil lifting as per August this year stood at only 792,000 bpd. ?I think that the outlook until end of this year will be below 815,000 bpd,? he said.

Jonan, however, is confident that gas lifting this year can exceed the target of 1.15 million boepd. He pointed out that gas lifting as per August stood at 1.13 million boepd, and is projected to reach 1.27 million boepd. ?I?m confident that it will be 10-15 percent above target,? he said.

Deputy Chairman of upstream oil and gas authority SKK Migas, Sukandar said that the higher gas lifting was made possible following the start of gas production in a number of projects such as the Jangkrik field in Muara Bakau block, East Kalimantan, operated by Eni, which currently runs production rate of 450 mmscfd.

Meanwhile, SKK Migas Chief Amien Sunaryadi said that the lower oil lifting, oil is ready for sale, was mainly because some oil production could not yet be put onto the tanker.

He expected that more oil which has been produced can be put onto the tanker by year end to help add to the oil lifting performance. (*)