Lahadalia noted that the region has the potential for new reserve discoveries that are expected to increase national production, which in 2023 was recorded at 606 thousand barrels of oil per day (BOPD).
"In the future, apart from optimizing old idle wells, we must intervene with technology in the wells that are running. We must also penetrate new exploration. Hence, where are the new wells? More in the eastern region," he said here on Wednesday.
The minister said that the status of exploration areas in the Eastern Indonesia region was accelerated through more attractive cooperation and incentive schemes, such as oil and gas blocks in the Buton-Southeast Sulawesi, Seram-Maluku, Warim-Papua, Aru-Arafura regions and in the Timor region.
"We have tendered some of these blocks. One of them is by (state-owned energy company) Pertamina," he remarked.
In addition to focusing exploration in the Eastern Indonesia region, he said that the government had also cut the licensing process for additional oil and gas wells, initially recorded at 329 permits to approximately 150 permits left.
Lahadalia drew attention to three strategies to reduce the extent of national oil and gas import spending, considering that Indonesia still has large potential mineral resources.
These strategies encompass optimizing oil production through technology, reactivating idle wells, as well as conducting oil and gas exploration, especially in the Eastern Indonesia region.
To optimize oil production through technology, he cited the example of the project in Banyu Urip, Surabaya, which was carried out by ExxonMobil, an American multinational oil and gas corporation.
The project could increase oil lifting, which was initially 90-100 thousand BOPD to 140-160 thousand BOPD.
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Translator: Ahmad Muzdaffar Fauzan, Yashinta Difa
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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