Pertamina's upstream division books Rp 9.8 trillion in profit

The upstream division of the state owned oil and gas company Pertamina booked a profit of Rp 9.8 trillion as of November this year, an increase of seven percent from the same period, last year.

Pertamina's president director Widya Purnama said in Jakarta on Friday that the higher profit was contributed by an increase in the production of the company's overall upstream activities operation including oil, gas and geothermal.

He said that Pertamina, the second largest oil producer in the country after Caltex, produced about 132,230 barrels of oil per day (bpd) and 1,073 million cubic feet per day during the January period.

He said that the crude oil and gas were produced from both gas fields operated by its own division and those operated in partnership with other companies.

The company's crude oil production from its own operation reached a total of 49,700 barrels per day, an increase of 14 percent as compared to those in the January-November, last year. While the production of gas from its own operation rose by 20 percent to 818 million cubic feet per day. Pertamina also discovered new oil reserves of 2.4 million barrels during the January-November period.

In its 2004 working program, Pertamina is projected to book a net profit of Rp 5.30 trillion from its whole operational activities or an increase of 34 percent from the profits booked in 2003. (*)