Oil and gas investment to increase to US$5.2b next year
Friday, December 22 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
Investment in the country's oil and gas sector was projected to increase to US$5.281 billion next year, as against the realized investment of $4.496 billion this year, state oil and gas company Pertamina on Thursday.
Head of Pertamina's foreign contractors management body (BPPKA) Heru Tjokro said in a yearend press conference Thursday evening the increase in the investment for the next year was mainly due to the development of the West Seno field in the Makassar Straits by Unocal Indonesia Company and the development of the project for the gas delivery from Sumatra to Singapore.
Pertamina is planning to sign agreement with Singapore Gas Supply Private Ltd next month allowing the state company and its production sharing contractors operating in Central Sumatra, including Canadian firm Gulf Indonesia Resources and American firm Santa Fe, to Singapore.
Heru said the realized oil and gas investment of $4.496 billion for this year was lower than the target of $5.185 billion.
"Some investors cancelled their investment this year following the governmental decree which obliges them to pay taxes for the importation of capital goods," Heru said, adding that the government had revoked the regulation following the investors' outcry.
Heru however did not provide details about the regulation.
He further said realized oil and condensate output reached 515.6 million barrels of oil (MMBO) this year, higher that target of 513 MMBO and lower than last year's realized output of 519.9 MMBO.
He said the country's oil output was projected to drop to 463.2 MMBO next year.
"Some new oil discoveries will not be able to come into production next year to offset the natural decline in the output of some existing wells," Heru explained the reason behind the projected decline in the country's oil output next year.
He further said the country's realized gas output for this year reached 2.4 trillion cubic feet (TCF), as against the target of 2 TCF.
Gas output was expected to reach 2.2 TCF next year, he said.
Heru also the country's oil reserves stood at 9.30 billion barrels of oil (MMMBO), as against 9.80 MMMBO last year. The reserves are expected to decline to 8.8 MMMBO next year.
Gas reserves stand at 131.84 TCF, compared to 134.54 TCF last year. The reserves are projected to increase to 135.64 TCF next year. (Alex/Godang/Epin)