Pertamina upstream expects significant jump in H1 profit

State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina expects pretax profit from upstream businesses to rise 22% in the first half of 2004.

The company sees a first half net profit of Rp. 4.4 (US$=Rp. 9,400) compared with Rp. 3.6 trillion a year ago.

"Higher oil and gas prices and output are expected to boost pretax profit," Bambang Nugroho, director of Pertamina's upstream operations, said.

He said Pertamina's crude oil output currently is at 130,000 barrels a day, up from 119,000 b/d in the first half of last year.

The company is on track to achieve its target to produce 145,000 b/d of crude oil by the end of the year, Bambang said.

He added that the company has achieved its year-end target to produce 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day. The company produced 900 million cubic feet of natural gas a day during the first six months of 2003.

The company projects crude oil output to further rise to 250,000 b/d in 2008, and gas output to 1.5 billion cubic feet a day, Bambang said.(godang)