Firm drives discovery

State-run oil company PT Pertamina accounted for 70 per cent of the one billion barrels of additional oil reserves that were discovered in Indonesia during 2003, a company spokesman has said.

“The success will be proclaimed by President Megawati Soekarnoputri at the Bogor Palace later in the day,” the spokesman, Ridwan Nyak Baik, said.
As many as 233 million barrels (some 23 per cent) of the additional oil reserves had been found through Pertamina’s operations in Pondok Tengah subdistrict, Bekasi, while the rest had been found in joint operations between Pertamina and its partners.
The oil reserves in Pondok Tengah were found after drilling to a depth of 2,311 meters below the surface.
The Pondok Tengah field is situated in Babelan subdistrict, Bekasi, some 20 km north of Bekasi city or some 40 km northeast of Jakarta.
Through its partnerships with foreign companies, Pertamina during 2003 produced some 457 million barrels of oil.
Nyak Baik said Pertamina’s expansion is expected to increase production from the current 285,000 barrels oil equivalent per day (MBOEPD) to 344,000 MBOEPD in 2004 and 480,000 MBOEPD in 2008 as targeted in Pertamina’s bussines plan.
Total oil reserves findings through Pertamina’s own operations in 2003 reached 424 million barrels of oil and 3.3 trillion cubic feet of gas with the exploration cost averaging US$0.17 per barrel oil equivalent (BOE).

Investment boost planned
PT Pertamina also plans to boost investment this year to Rp 5.9 trillion (US$702 million) from Rp 4.7 trillion in the previous period in a bid to increase oil and gas production.
“Looking ahead, we’ll boost our exploration activities. This is in line with our core business in the oil and gas sector,” Pertamina finance director Alfred Rohimune told the press.
He also said that Pertamina was targeting a higher profit after tax of around Rp 5.30 trillion this year, compared to Rp 3.90 trillion last year.
Pertamina is intensifying oil and gas exploration to jack up output amid growing demand at home. Experts had previously said that new oil finds are essential if the country is to avoid becoming a net oil importer in 10 years time.
The country needs new oil discoveries of between 400 million and 500 million barrels annually, which is the same amount of crude oil currently produced by the nation each year, according an estimate from the oil and gas upstream authority, BP Migas.
BP Migas said that as of the end of 2003 Indonesia’s proven and potential oil reserves stood at 9.75 billion barrels, which at the current rate would be enough to last for 20 years.
Indonesia now produces 1.081 million barrels per day.
Pertamina also needed to intensify its exploitation of aging oil fields. Such fields normally still contained oil but required advanced technology for its extraction.