Progress of Banyu Urip project slower than expected: SKK Migas
Friday, June 21 2013 - 02:32 AM WIB
Development of the Banyu Urip project within the Cepu Block in Central and East Java has been slower than expected.
"Until June 14, the progress of the Banyu Urip project only reached 57 percent, whereas according to the plan it should have reached 82 percent," Head of Monitoring and Control of SKK Migas, the upstream oil and gas authority, Iman Nurkamal told Petromindo.com on Thursday.
Iman said that the main obstacles include the performance of the EPC contractor which has not fulfilled its contractual commitments, and rainy weather.
"Another constraint is the permit of the relevant agencies such as Directorate General of Railways, Directorate General of Water Resources, Department of Public Works of Highways for East Java, and the Ministry of Environment," he added
Cepu Block is operated by Mobil Cepu Ltd, a unit of ExxonMobil Indonesia, which has been trying to intensify the development of the Banyu Urip field, considered as a strategic project to help increase the country?s oil production. With estimated reserves of around 450 million barrels of oil, Banyu Urip is seen as the largest unexploited oil field in the country.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak