Indonesia: Oil lifting decline continues in first quarter

• Apr 11, 2018

Indonesia’s oil lifting, the colloquial term for ready-to-sell production, fell by 6.6 percent to 750,600 barrels of oil per day (bopd) throughout the first quarter because of a natural decline of reserves at various fields across the country.

Meanwhile, gas lifting fell slightly by 0.08 percent to 1.13 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) within the first three months of this year.

Throughout 2017, Indonesia’s oil lifting decreased by 2 percent to 803,847 bopd, while gas lifting plummeted by 5 percent to 1.14 million boepd.

Commenting on the downward trend in oil and gas lifting, Amien Sunaryadi, the head of the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas), said it was crucial for the country to boost exploration to discover new petroleum reserves and subsequently boost production in years to come.

“It’s very important for us to boost exploration because Indonesia has not been able to discover new petroleum reserves on a large scale for quite a long time,” Amien said recently.

In the first quarter, realized investment in the upstream oil and gas sector reached US$2.4 billion, or 17 percent of the full-year target of $14.2 billion.

At the same time, state revenues from the sector stood at $3.9 billion, or 33 percent of the full-year target of $11.9 billion. (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/04/11/oil-lifting-decline-continues-in-first-quarter.html