Pertamina suspends oil production at Rantau and Pangkalan Susu

State owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina has suspended oil production at its Rantau and Pangkalan Susu fields in the northern part of Sumatra due to heavy flooding.

Pertamina EP CEO Kun Kurnely said on Wednesday that the company had decided to suspend oil production at Rantau field in the border of North Sumatra and Aceh after heavy flooding cut the field?s oil output to 73 percent to 863 barrels per day (bpd) from the target of 3184 bpd. Many lifting equipment of the field are inundated by water.

The field is however still able to supply gas to the Belawan power plant in Medan at the rate of 33-35 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD).

Pertamina also suspended oil production at Pangkalan Susu field in North Sumatra following a decrease in the field?s oil output to 1,200 bpd from the target of 1,408 bpd.

Flooding that has been hitting many parts of Sumatra over the past several days has damaged rice fields, houses and killed scores of people. (Godang)