Upstream Oil and Gas Revenue Meets Target in 2017
Jakarta. Indonesia collected $13.1 billion in revenue from the upstream oil and gas industry in 2017, exceeding the target in last year’s revised state budget, an official said on Tuesday (09/01).
"The achievement is about 108 percent of the government's target [of $12.2 million]," said Ego Syahrial, director general for oil and gas at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.
However, Indonesia’s oil and gas production clocked in 1.944 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), or just 99 percent of the original 1.965 million boepd target.
The country produced 803,000 barrels of oil per day, or 98.6 percent of its target of 815,000 barrels per day, last year. Chevron Pacific Indonesia, the local unit of US-based oil and gas firm Chevron Corp, contributed to 28 percent of the lifting target, or 224,000 bpd of oil.
Meanwhile, national gas production almost reached its target of 6.386 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) out of 6,440 million, or 99.2 percent of the government's target. France's Total E&P Indonesie, which recently sold off the Mahakam oil and gas block to state-run energy firm Pertamina, accounted for 20 percent of all gas production in the country at 1.225 mmscfd of gas per day.
Oil and gas investments in 2017 amounted to $9.33 billion, also lower than the $12.29 billion target outlined in the state budget. The investment for exploration blocks only accounted for $180 million.
The ministry expects investments in the industry this year to reach $12.6 billion, though only anticipates $810,000 in new investments for oil and gas block exploration.
Amien Sunaryadi, head of Indonesia's upstream oil and gas regulator, said the lackluster response from investors in the upstream oil and gas industry was in part due to the decline in global oil prices over the past couple of years.
"I hope the current oil prices can push more investment," Amien said.
According to Reuters, Brent crude futures — the international benchmark for oil prices — were at $67.78 a barrel on Tuesday, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures stood at $61.73 a barrel, more than double of lowest prices recorded in January 2016.
Last week, both contracts rose to their highest since May 2015 with Brent at $68.27 and WTI at $62.21.
Indonesia targets to produce 1.2 million boepd of oil this year as outlined in the state budget.
State-controlled oil company Pertamina aims to increase its crude oil production by nearly a fifth next year to 400,000 barrels per day, up from an estimated 342,000 barrels per day in 2017.
Tags: Keywords: