Pertamina`s oil production has been increasing over the past several years.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - State-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina has said that the country`s condensate and crude oil production has been recorded at over 200 thousand barrels per day (bpd) since in the past several years.

Pertamina`s upstream director M Husen said here on Sunday that the country oil production up to the middle of September this year had reached 202 thousand bpd.

"The oil production this year has exceeded the production last year which was 195,530 bpd," he said.

Natural gas up to the middle of September this year has reached 260 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d).

Thus, in total, the country`s oil and gas production has been recorded at 462 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day.

According to Husen, Pertamina`s oil production has been increasing over the past several years. If in 2007, the state-owned company`s oil production was recorded at 143 thousand bpd, it has now risen to over 200 thousand bpd this year.

The production in detail is 143,000 bpd in 2007, it rose to 150,000 bpd in 2008 and in it rose again to 176,000 bpd, 2010 to 191,000 bpd, 2011 to 193,000 bpd, 2012 to 196,000 bpd, and up to the middle of September 2013 it has reached 202,000 bpd.

In the meantime, PT Pertamina EP, a subsidiary of Pertamina, has set its crude oil and condensate production target at 125,000-127,000 barrels per day, exceeding the 2013 state budget assumption of 123,330 barrels per day.

The state-owned oil and gas company`s spokesperson, Agus Amperianto, stated here on Thursday that the production target has been set solely on the basis of the company`s existing onshore wells.

"The estimation of 125,000-127,000 barrels per day was done taking into account the existing onshore wells and on the assumption that there will be no new land acquisition," he said.

However, if its plan to drill another 30 wells is implemented, then Pertamina`s oil production figures could reach 127,000-129,000 barrels per day, Agus continued.

However, he added, land acquisition is the main obstacle to the company`s plan.

As per Law No.2 of 2012 on Land Procurement for Development of Public Interest, land acquisition involves a number of agencies, such as the National Land Agency and the Special Task Force for Upstream Oil and Gas.

"According to the law, the land acquisition process should take no longer than 584 days," Agus said.

Therefore, he explained, none of the 30 wells that Pertamina had planned to drill have been put to use yet.

The 30 drilling wells are situated in Jambi, South Sumatra, and East Kalimantan, among other areas.

Agus expressed hope that a breakthrough in the land acquisition process would help Pertamina boost oil production.

Reporting by Kelik Dewanto

Editor: Ella Syafputri
Copyright © ANTARA 2013