Pertamina to conduct study on Pondok Tengah Bekasi oil field

State oil and gas company PT Pertamina plans to do an advanced study on its Pondok Tengah Bekasi oil field for the possible exploration of new wells to meet this year's production target of 140,000 barrels per day (bpd), The Jakarta Post newspaper reported in its Tuesday edition.

"We will do further studies in Pondok Tengah Bekasi some time this year to find more oil reserves," said Arya Dwi Paramita, of media relations for Pertamina, on Monday.

He further said that the new oil reserve found at the site, Sumur Pondok Tengah (PDT-1), would contribute 233 million barrels of oil (MMBO), almost a quarter of the total of one billion barrels of new oil reserves found by Pertamina.

The new PDT-1 oil reserve located in Buni Baru village, Babelan subdistrict, Bekasi, was discovered by New Venture under the coordination of the central office of Pertamina. Its exploitation has yet to be handed over to the downstream operational office of West Java, he added.

Arya said that the exploration of PDT-1 began in 1995 and the drilling of the well was completed at the end of 2003 with a final depth of 2,311 meters. "We've already sealed the new well with a 'Christmas tree' until the production phase begins."

Pertamina has other oil wells in Bekasi, in the Tambun area, which already produce crude oil. Production reached 2.23 million barrels of oil in 2003, with an average production of 6,126.1 barrels per day.

There are five areas in Tambun that produce crude oil, namely Block A with four wells, Block B and Block C have two wells each, Block F with five wells (one well has yet to be drilled), and Block G with two wells. All the oil wells are under the West Java Downstream Operation office.

Other new oil reserves, part of the one billion barrels of new oil reserves, are under the Downstream Operation offices of Central Sumatra, South Sumatra, East Java, and in the Matindok block in Central Sulawesi. (*)