This year's oil production only 98.7 percent of the target: BP Migas

Indonesia's crude oil production reached an average of 1.06 million barrels per day between January to November of this year, or about 98.7 percent of the target set in the government's 2005 state budget, according to the chief of the oil and gas upstream regulatory body BP Migas, Kardaya Warnika.

Kardaya attributed the slight failure to meet the target due to the depletion of the oil reserves in most of the country's major oil fields. "About 88 percent of the existing major oil fields have begun to decline due to the depletion of their oil deposits," he told the press in Bandung recently.

He acknowledged that there was an increase of 32 percent in the number of oil production locations this year but the new production sites had brought no significant impact on the national oil production because the oil reserves found in the new oil fields were relatively very small.

According to him, if no efforts were taken, such as the introduction of incentives for marginal and aging oil fields, this year's production would have declined to below 900,000 barrels per day.

Kardaya said that non-technical factors such as the difficulty in land clearance for the development of new oil fields, floods and the power shortage had contributed to the relatively low oil production. (godang)