Oil Drilling Far off Target: SKK Migas
10 November 2014 15:08 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The Special Task Force of Upstream Oil and Gas (Migas SKK) noted 1,036 new oil and gas wells have completed drilling as of October 31, 2014, which consisted of 67 exploration wells and 969 development wells.
The achievement is far from the target set in 2014 work and program budget, where it was set at 1,456 new drilled wells, consisting of 132 exploration wells and 1,324 development wells.
"We face many obstacles including procurement process, rig scheduling, land acquisition permits as well as site preparations," SKK Migas spokesman Rudianto Rimbono said in a press conference yesterday.
Previously Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sudirman Said said Indonesia still needs to import oil and gas as the domestic output decreases from year to year. "I'm being realistic; in the near future it is impossible to increase the lifting," he said last weekend.
Indonesia is only able to produce 820,000 barrels of oil per day, whereas the daily consumption volume amounts to 1.5 million barrels.
To make up for the shortage, the government will make a direct approach to several oil and natural gas producing countries. Some of them, such as Angola, Iran, and Russia, had offered their crude oil to be processed in Indonesia's oil refineries.
Marwan Batubara, energy observer from the Indonesian Resources Studies, said the government's plan to seek new oil sources from other countries must be balanced with transparency and improved management. "The most important thing is transparency, because it involves the lives of many people," he told Tempo.
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