PHE WMO announces H1 production

PHE WMO, the subsidiary of state owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina (Persero) which operates West Madura PSC in East Java, produced 14,835 barrels per day (bpd) of oil and 107.07 mmscfd of gas in the first half of the year, Pertamina said in a statement.

In the Work Program & Budget (WP&B) determined by upstream authority SKK Migas, the firm is targeted to produce 14,373 bpd of oil and 110.83 mmscfd of gas.

PHE WMO?s General Manager Boyke Pardede said the firm will do its utmost to meet the WP&B target in the rest of the year.

According to him, the biggest challenge faced by the firm is the high natural decline rate of the block, which reaches 40 percent a year. ?In order to arrest the decline and increase production, we continue activities such as drilling of development wells, workover, and well service throughout 2015 with high efficiency and measured calculation,? he said.

According to Pertamina?s Preisdent Director Dwi Soetjipto, the block?s production cost is well below $42 per barrel. ?As such, there is no reason for delaying drilling of production wells or exploration activities to increase reserve,? he said.

At the time Pertamina took over the block in 2011 from a consortium led by South Korean firm Kodeco Energy Co. Ltd, the block?s oil output had dropped to 7,500 bpd. The firm managed to increase the oil output to 18,089 bpd and the gas output to 114.5 mmscfd in 2013. The output further increased to 20,292 bpd of oil and 116.5 mmscfd of gas in 2014. Under PHE WMO, the block reached its peak production of 24,000 bpd in end-July 2013.

PHE WMO has an 80 percent interest in the block with Kodeco holding the rest of the shares.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon