OIL, GAS LIFTING SET AT 970 THOUSAND BARRELS PER DAY BEXT YEAR

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Dec 27 (ANTARA) - Indonesia is optimistic that its oil and gas lifting in 2011 will reach 970,000 barrels per day (bpd) based on the target set in its state budget.          This is regardless of the fact that the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Agency (BP Migas) has only approved 952,000 bpd under its 2011 work program and budget (WP&B) with cooperation contractors (KKKS).          Head of BP Migas R Priyono said the lifting was actually lower from the target in 2011 State Budget set at  970,000 barrels per day. "But we are optimistic the oil lifting target will be reached as set in the State Budget at 970,000 barrels per day," he said.          The optimism is based on this year's oil and gas production performance which reaches 956,000 bpd, exceeding the approved 877,000 bpd of the target set at 965,000 bpd in the state budget.          He said the lifting figure under the 2011 work program and budget  of 952,000 barrels per day was 37,000 barrels per day higher than initially proposed by the cooperation contractors (KKKS) of only  915,000 barrels per day. The WP&B figure is eventually always lower than realization.          In 2010, for example, the lifting based on the WP&B amounts to 877,000 barrels per day, but in fact the lifting may reach 954,000 barrels per day or 108.8 pct above the WP&B. "So we are optimistic in facing 2011," he added.          Unlike oil, Priyono said, the 2011 gas lifting is according to the WP&B 7,825 billion british thermal units per day (BBTUD), higher than the target in the state budget of 7,768 BBTUD. The gas production rate proposed by  KKKS was lower, namely 7,613 BBTUD.          Up to December 18, 2010, the 2010 oil lifting had reached 954,000 barrels per day, or 98.99 pct of the target of  965,000 barrels per day. Production was below target because of gas pipeline leaks of  PT TGI that reduce production by 6,000 barrels per day.          Production decline reached only 0.25 pct or much lower than the planned 12 pct. New oil and gas reserves in 2010 reached nine KKKS with the discovery of 230 million barrels of oil and 2.8 trillion cubic feet of gas.          Priyono is optimistic that oil production continued to increase and may reach 1.157 million per barrel in 2014 with a declining rate of 12 pct.          Actually, the oil lifting for 2011 increased by 5,000 bpd compared with that of 2010. "In 2010 the oil production target was set at 965,000 bpd, but we could realize only 956.000 bpd. While the target for 2011 slightly increases to 970,000 bpd," Head of Public Relations of BP Migas, Elan Biantoro, said meanwhile.          Elan said he was optimistic that the target next year could be achieved through the hard work of all sides, particularly the oil contractor companies or KKKS.          He expressed his hope that oil leakage such the pipeline leaks of  PT Transportasi Gas Indonesia (TGI) in Raiu province last September would not happen again. Such a leakage would have impact on national oil production.          The leakage of TGI gas pipelines in Indragiri Hulu district sometime ago caused a number of oil and gas firms in Riau such as PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia in Duri area of Benkalis district and Bumi Siak Pusako-Pertamina Joint Operation Board (BOB) in Siak District, to face difficulties in operating maximally.          According to Priyono, the realized lifting in 2010 was lower than the target of 965,000 bpd. There were a number of constraints that cut production by 19,000 bpd. Virtually, the lifting could reach 976,000 bpd if there were no constraints.          The various constraints included the loss of 9,700 bpd production as a result of bad weather, transportation system, electricity, unprepared recipients and decreasing demand during major holidays.          The leakage of pipelines cut production by 5,000 bpd.          As a result, efforts to reach the oil and gas production target were hampered as gas supply from TGI pipelines was cut off and affect power supply needed to produce oil from the oil fields.          "We hope that constraints in the oil and gas production would not repeat themselves in 2011," Elan Biantoro said.           Based on data from the BP Migas, of the 956,000 bpd produced in 2010, about 387,000 bpd came from Riau province. It consisted of 380,000 bpd produced by Chevron and 17,000 others by the Bumi Siak Pusako-Pertamina BOB.          But BP Migas said it had yet to know how much the oil contribution the Riau province would contribute to national oil and gas lifting target for 2011. "Though the national oil and gas lifting target for 2011 has been set at 970,000 bpd, yet it is not yet known how much Ria province would contribute to it," BP Migas Head for Northern Sumatra Baris Sitorus said.      (T.A014/A/HAJM/18:20/a014) Dec. 27, 2010