Pertamina fails to meet oil production target

State-owned oil firm Pertamina only managed to produce 80 percent of its target of 110,000 barrels of crude oil per day during this year's first half, Pertamina director of exploration and production Kun Kurnely said Monday as reported by The Jakarta Post.

He noted, however, that in its self-operated oil fields, Pertamina managed to meet 90 percent of its production target, or about 101,000 barrels per day.

"The lower production figures are due to the failure of -our partners under JOB (Joint Operating Body) and TAC (Technical Assistance Contract) arrangements to produce the targeted quantities of crude oil," he said.

Kun claimed that Pertamina's partners were only able to produce 80 percent of their target of 11,250 barrels. "This is because they have found it difficult to secure the funding needed to finance the rig equipment.

However, Upstream Oil and Gas Executive Agency (BP Migas) chairman Kardaya Warnika recently told the House of Representatives' Commission VII that the production of crude oil stood at only 89,895 barrels per day.

Kun expressed optimism that Pertamina would be able to meet the target set by the government this year as a number of oil fields were now in the final stages before production.

The new oil fields include Pondok Tengah in Bekasi, West Java, which will produce 2,000 barrels per day, and Sukowati in Bojonegoro, East Java, which will produce between 1,000 and 2,000 barrels per day.

"We expect that later this year we'll have additional crude production 01 between 3.000 and 5,000 barrels per day,? he was quoted by Antara as saying.

The government had been hoping for total crude oil production of 1.1 million barrels per day this year, with Pertamina expected to supply 10 percent of the target, or 110,000 barrels per day.

Total production of private-sector oil firms up to the end of June this year stood at 1.029 million per day, or 93.5 percent of the government's overall target. (*)