Pertamina to drill more oil wells in Prabumulih

State oil and gas company Pertamina's production unit in Prabumulih, South Sumatera expects to carry out drilling activities at six new oil wells this year in a bid to increase its production, Suara Karya reported on Monday.

Eteng A. Salaman, the general manager of the production unit, said that the new drilling operation would increase the number of oil wells operated by the unit to 25.

He said that at present there were 19 oil wells, which have been in production, two of which were operated through an injection system. The total production in the area reached between 70,000 and 75,000 barrel per day.

But his unit only produced about 24,000 bpd while the remainders were pumped by Pertamina's production sharing contractors.

Eteng said that Pertamina's Prabumulih production unit was only able to produce 6.49 million bpd in the fiscal year ended in March, below the initial target of 7,7 million bpd.

According to him, oil reserves in Prabumulih, one of the country's major oil producers, reached a total of 144 million bpd. (*)