Gov’t Eyes 2.02 Million BOEPD in 2019

Oil and gas drilling (Photo by: Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources)

The Government has set the target of national oil and gas lifting at 2.02 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOEPD) in 2019, according to Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arcandra Tahar.

Despite exceeding the previous year’s target, the Government expressed optimistim that the target will be met considering various efforts the Government has made to boost the country’s oil and gas production. “We will do our best to boost production from existing oil and gas fields,” Arcandra told reporters in Jakarta, Tuesday (19/2).

Arcandra also unveiled the Government’s strategy in boosting oil and gas production in the future, including short term, medium term, and long term strategies.

For short-term strategy, the Government will carry out fracturing and balanced drilling in two to three years to accelerate production from existing fields and for medium term, the Government will encourage Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) technology for productive assets.

“State owned oil and gas company Pertamina is active here. However, it will take seven to ten years to get a response,” Arcandra said.

For long term strategy, the Government will carry out oil and gas exploration. “Exploration is deemed as the right choice to maintain oil and gas production,” he added

The Government also expressed hope that future exploration activities will have a success ratio of above 20 percent or every five times of new exploration, a new reserve will be discovered.

The Government also has funds in the form of gross split system cooperation contracts amounting to USD1.1 billion that can be used for exploration activities to discover new oil reserves, Arcandra said.

“The funds can be used for exploration for the next five to ten years. We hope that this fund will continue to grow,” explained Arcandra, adding that oil and gas entrepreneurs should remain optimistic following the decline in natural oil and gas production.

Measures to boost oil and gas production, Archandra added, are also taken to anticipate the threat of oil and gas deficits over the increase in oil and gas needs which are increasingly high in years to come. (Communication Team of Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources/EN)

Translated by: Muhardi

Edited by: M. Ersan Pamungkas