Jokowi-JK Targets One Million Barrels Oil Production
8 September 2014 19:20 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Joko Widodo-Jusuf Kalla government aims to achieve one million barrel of oil production per day in 2015.
According to vice president-elect Jusuf Kalla, the target can be achieved because there are new oil fields that are ready for production. "We have reserves from Cepu that will operate next year," said Kalla on Monday, September 8, 2014.
He said that Indonesia had its heyday of oil production when oil production reached 1.5 million barrels a day. Now, oil production has dropped to only 840,000 barrels per day.
Kalla added that Indonesia was the first country that initiated the birth of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Indonesia's oil production at that time could reach up to 1.6 million barrels per day, far above Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Algeria and Qatar, which are now the main oil exporters. "At that time, they were nothing," he said.
However, the condition has changed because Indonesia has become one of the world's main oil importers. This condition burdens the State Budget because some of the oil is sold to the people with subsidy. ?That’s why, in the future, the subsidy must be directed to other sectors," he said.
Kalla admitted that oil and gas management in Indonesia is filled with numerous problems that must be solved and there are steps that must be taken in order to increase production capacity. One of the steps is that Pertamina must focus more on upstream business. "However, we are having problems for investment in that sector," he said.
JAYADI SUPRIADIN