Indonesia's peak decline numbers

NTBKtrader · Intermediate Crude Joined: Oct 19, 2004 Posts: 595

Indonesia, which was once a major oil exporter, has to import more and more crude oil to meet the surge in its fuel demand. In other words, the country's oil production is no longer sufficient to meet its own needs.

Since March this year, crude oil imports have exceeded exports, making Indonesia a net oil importer.

Indonesia's production has continued to decline in recent years due to a lack of new investment in exploration and the natural decline in production at existing oil fields.

Oil production, which reached between 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) and 1.6 million bpd during between 1974 and 1999, has been dropping steadily over the past five years. In the first quarter of this year, the country's oil production was only 0.98 million bpd or about 70 percent of the production level in 1999.

Kurtubi, the director of the Center for Petroleum and Energy Economics Studies (CPEES), describes the rapid drop in the country's oil production as unbelievable.

"The fall in the country's oil production by about 30 percent in less than five years is something extraordinary in the world's oil history. No country had experienced such a drastic fall in oil production," he says.

Indonesia currently holds proven oil reserves of 4.7 billion barrels, down 13 percent since 1994. The majority of Indonesia's producing oil fields are located in the western and central sections of the country.

[...]

Unocal's West Seno field, under development offshore of East Kalimantan, is producing 40,000 bpd and is expected to be able to produce up to 60,000 bpd when the second phase of development is completed in 2005. ExxonMobil's Banyurip field in Java, which is expected to come onstream in 2006, could produce up to 100,000 bpd.

The most promising project is the Cepu field in Central Java which holds reserves of at least 600 million barrels. The field, which is operated by ExxonMobil in partnership with Pertamina, is now inactive due to a dispute between the two oil giants over the future operation of the field, which could produce up to 180,000 bpd.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailfeatures.asp?fileid=20041212.F02&irec=5

Most oil producers in Indonesia have experienced significant production drops over the past few years, despite their intensive production recovery programs.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailfeatures.asp?fileid=20041212.F03&irec=6