SKK Migas sees lower 2014 oil lifting at 813,000 bpd

Acting chairman of the upstream oil and gas authority SKK Migas, J. Widjonarko said that the country would not be able to meet this year?s oil lifting target of 870,000 barrel per day as set in the 2014 State Budget.

He was quoted by the local papers as saying following a meeting with economics ministers over the weekend that the maximum achievable target is an average of 813,000 bpd, the lowest since the 1.6 million bpd peaks recorded during the 1970s and mid 1980s. ?This is a conservative figure, considering there has been no new significant (oil) finds,? he said.

Widjonarko said that there several reasons for the drop in the oil lifting including the fact that there has been no new oil wells discovered during the past couple of years, and that the Cepu block, which was targeted to start production in July of this year has bee delayed. ?Cepu will start production in November 2014. That?s the latest schedule which we have discussed deeply with Cepu Limited,? he said referring to the operator of the block, located in border areas of Central and East Java. (*)