Pertamina EP?s oil production tops 130,000 bpd

By Godang Sitompul

Pertamina EP, an upstream subsidiary of state owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina, has reached a new milestone in oil production by surpassing the 130,000 barrel per day (bpd) mark. The output hit 135,500 bpd on May 21.

?Our ability to reach this psychological level has strengthened our optimism (over our capacity) to increase production,? company President Director Syamsu Alam said in a statement on Wednesday.

Many of its fields have seen their oil output on the rising trend, including the Prabumulih field in South Sumatra which has gained additional 4,500 bpd of oil output and the Bunyu field in East Kalimantan which has added 3,100 bpd to its output, the statement said.

As of end April, the firm recorded 1,067 bpd and 1,125 mmscfd of additional oil and gas production as a result of the Put on Production (PoP) program at an old well called Tasim (TSM-4) in South Sumatra.

In the middle of this month, Prabumulih recorded significant increase in oil production thanks to various programs, including the drilling of PMB24 well, which has added 2,551 bpd to the field?s oil production, the fracturing of OGAN-21 which added 1,411 bpd and the drilling of TLJ -236 well which provided an additional output of 600 bpd.

Also as of the middle of this month, the drilling of BN-25 well in Bunyu has generated an additional oil and gas output of 3,180 bpd and 0.9 mmscfd respectively.

The firm has applied various programs to increase the production of its existing fields, including drilling in focus areas, zero discharging, reactivating old fields, holding consistent pressure maintenance, replacing worn-out production facilities and utilizing enhanced oil recovery technology (EOR).

EOR application through water injection alone has increased its output by 14,000 bpd, the firm said, adding it is studying the application of EOR through chemicals and CO2 injection.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon