Pertamina raises ONWJ oil output to 30,000 bpd

State owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina's upstream arm, PT Pertamina Hulu Energi (PHE) said on Thursday that the oil output from its Onshore North West Java block (ONWJ) now stands at 30,000 bpd as against 22,000 bpd when it was still under the control of British energy firm BP Plc.

PHE?s Acting President Director, Dwi Martono said gas output has also increased to 220 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) from 110 MMCFD before the acquisition.

Dwi said PHE plans to start exploration activity starting next year after 10 years of vacuum. ?This year, we will start a joint study with PT Pertamina EP in transition zone of onshore and offshore Java sea, then next year we will start exploration activity,? he said.

PHE will also conduct drilling in two development fields, namely APN-F and APN-G for next years? development program. Both fields are gas prospect.

PHE expects to spend US$142 million of capital expenditure this year with operation expenditure at an amount of $364 million. Operation expenditure is especially allocated for infill drilling and work over, Dwi added.

ONWJ stretches from Cirebon in the east to the Seribu Islands in the west. It consists of 670 production wells and has 170 production platforms, over 40 processing and service facilities, along with approximately 1,600 km of sub-sea pipelines.

The block supplies gas to state-owned gas distribution firm PT Perusahaan Gas Negara, state owned electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara and state fertilizer firm PT Pupuk Kujang. (godang/bernard)