President Jokowi Visits Rokan Block in Riau

President Jokowi visits the area of PT Pertamina Hulu Rokan in Dumai, Riau, Thursday (01/05). (Photo by: PR of Cabinet Secretariat/Agung)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Thursday (01/05) visited the area of a subsidiary of state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina Hulu Rokan in Dumai, Riau.

“We must make the best use of technology, and we must use digitization to monitor [the production]. I have seen that the movement of each heavy equipment and the drilling equipment here were monitored by digital monitors. This is good,” the President said in a press conference after the visit.

The President also expressed hope that the productivity of the Rokan Block, which has been taken over from PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia (CPI), will increase significantly to 400,000 barrels per day (bpd).

The President said that the successful management of the Rokan Block will become a reference in managing other oil blocks. The President also said that Indonesia’s human resources are capable of managing oil productions.

“If this is successful, I will order that the Mahakam Block should be managed by the same management,” the President said.

On that occasion, the President also reminded Pertamina to maintain oil lifting so that it could reduce Indonesia’s dependence on imported products.

In the meantime, CEO PT Pertamina Nicke Widyawati said that the Rokan Block is currently fully managed by the nation’s best talents. Pertamina, she added, could prove that oil production in the Rokan Block has increased.

Nicke further said that after the transfer of management to Pertamina, the Rokan Block made an extraordinary contribution to the country in terms of the economy and employment.

“When the management was transferred, all of the workers moved to Pertamina Hulu Rokan and we had 25,000 [employees]. Today, we have 37,500 [employees]. It means an addition of 12,500 [employees] in a short period of time, around 1.5 years,” Nicke remarked. (JW/UN) (RI/MUR)