Page 6 - AsianOil Week 08 2021

AsianOil SOUTHEAST ASIA AsianOil

Pertamina’s rocky road

to Rokan handover

The state-owned company is set to take over the Rokan oilfield this year
from Chevron, but the transition period has been beset with obstacles

COMMENTARY INDONESIA’S state-owned Pertamina is “Currently, most of the oil and gas blocks
preparing to take control of the country’s sec- are Pertamina’s, so it really depends on Per-
ond-largest oilfield later this year, but as the clock tamina’s strategy, whether to be aggressive in
WHAT: runs down there are signs that the transition may investing in upstream oil and gas in Indone-
Pertamina still needs to not go off smoothly. sia,” agency head Dwi Soetjipto told CNBC
iron out several issues The transfer of the Rokan oilfield is a leg- Indonesia on February 10.
with Chervon ahead of acy of the government’s resource nationalism The government has set an ambitious target
the handover. embarked upon ahead of the general elections of producing 1mn barrels per day (bpd) of oil
in 2019. US super-major Chevron’s bid to extend and 12bn cubic feet (339.84mn cubic metres) per
WHY: its licence for the block, which is located in Riau day of gas in 2030. SKK Migas’ target for 2021
SKK Migas claims Province, was beaten by Pertamina in 2018. is 705,000 bpd of oil as well as 5.64 bcf (159.72
Pertamina does not have The move to install Pertamina in an expiring mcm) per day.
access to Chevron’s EOR licence has been repeated at several fields, most The national operator’s ability to deliver on
knowledge. notably at the giant Mahakam natural gas field the government’s 2030 target is in question,
in January 2018, taking over from France’s Total however. At the giant Mahakam gas field, for
WHAT NEXT: and Japan’s Inpex. example, Pertamina has overseen a decline in
Pertamina may struggle The steady consolidation of the country’s production since assuming control.
to maintain Rokan’s upstream under Pertamina’s control, amid The block produced 1.26 bcf (35.68 mcm) per
production, let alone years of declining oil and gas production, has day of gas in 2017, before shrinking to 624mn
boost it, as is the plan. prompted questions about whether the state cubic feet (17.67 mcm) per day in the first half
major is up to the sizeable task of turning Indo- of 2020.
nesia’s upstream fortunes around. And given the difficulties the company contin-
ues to face in dealing with Chevron in the run-up
Too great a burden to the August handover of the Rokan field, there is
Upstream regulator SKK Migas revealed earlier a good chance of a repeat performance.
this month that Pertamina would control around
70% of the country’s oil production once the Rokan’s rocky road
Rokan transfer was completed. It would be fair to say that Chevron and Pertami-
SKK Migas head Dwi Soetjipto said at the na’s handover negotiations over the block’s hand-
time the consolidation meant that Pertamina’s over have not gone smoothly thus far.
development strategies would dominate the The state-owned major first floated the idea
country’s upstream prospects. of gaining early access to the field in January

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 08 25•February•2021