Pertamina starts oil production in Bekasi, plans to invest $368m
Wednesday, August 9 2006 - 03:17 AM WIB
?The field is producing 1,800 barrels of oil per day (bpd). We hope to increase the output to 3,500 bpd later this year from two wells,? Pertamina?s upstream arm PT Pertamina E&P president Kun Kurnaely said on Thursday.
The firm plans to gradually ramp up the oil output to 16,000 bpd in 2008 and the field is also expected to produce natural gas at the rate of 16 million cubic feet of gas per day (MMCFD) that year.
The field, which was discovered in 2003, has 146 million barrels of oil reserves and 48 billion cubic feet of natural gas reserves stored in the Baturaja and Talang Akar formations, according to Pertamina.
There are 33 production wells and 13 injection wells in the field. According to Kun, Pertamina had invested US$58 million to drill the wells from 2003 through 2006. It will invest another$368.29 million over the next three years in the field, including $73.13 million this year, $186.72 next year and $108.44 million in 2008.
?We shall use our internal funds for the investment,? he said.
The government has encouraged all oil and gas companies to increase production, offering them various incentives, amid the declining trend in the national oil output and the increases in oil prices.
Indonesia, a member of oil cartel OPEC, produced 900,000 bpd last month ? the lowest in several decades ? compared to the initial target of 1.1 million bpd set in the 2006 state budget. Finding that the initial target was unachievable, the government has lowered it to 1.050 in the recent revision of the state budget.
Until after Pondok Tengah started production, Pertamina?s oil output stood at 89,895 bpd, which is only 81.72 percent of the firm?s target for this year. (Godang)