RI's June crude output down at 927,800 bpd: Report

Indonesia's crude oil output declined slightly to 927,800 barrels a day in June from 968,700 b/d in May, a Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources source told Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday.

Condensate output also slipped to 120,600 b/d in June from 123,000 b/d in May, the source said.

Those results brought total crude oil and condensate output to 1.048 million b/d last month, down from 1.092 million b/d in May.

That output reduction will likely heighten concerns about state-owned oil firm Pertamina's already voracious demand for U.S. dollars to purchase needed oil imports.

That demand has contributed to a weakening in the value of the rupiah against the dollar that culminated in a more than three-year low of IDR9,870 at Tuesday's close.

The rupiah rebounded slightly to Rp9,790 at Wednesday's close on the back of a central bank plan to directly supply dollars to Pertamina outside the country's currency market.

Indonesia, the only Southeast Asian member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, has been unable to meet its OPEC quota of 1.425 million b/d due to dwindling reserves after years of exploitation. Regulatory woes have also damped investor enthusiasm to initiate new exploration in the petroleum sector.

Those factors contributed to Indonesia becoming a net oil importer for several months in 2004. (*)