Page 6 - AsianOil Week 06 2021
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AsianOil SOUTHEAST ASIA AsianOil
Indonesia boosts 2021
drilling target by 150%
PROJECTS & INDONESIAN upstream regulator SKK Migas
COMPANIES has said it expects the country’s oil and gas play-
ers to boost development drilling by 150% year
on year in 2021.
SKK Migas head Dwi Soetjipto said on Feb-
ruary 10 that the target of 616 wells, the highest
volume since 2014, should help halt the decline
in national oil and gas production. Last year’s oil
price saw only 240 of the targeted 395 develop-
ment wells drilled.
“In 2021, we will be back on track after a
pretty sharp decline between 2014 and 2017,”
The Jakarta Post quoted Soetjipto as telling a
House of Representatives hearing. Indonesia’s
oil production has been in decline since 2016,
with the BP Statistical Review of World Energy
2020, while gas output has been shrinking is up 20% so far year to date, hitting a new
since 2010. 52-week high of $61.09 per barrel on February 9.
Soetjipto added that he expected develop- Indonesia’s upstream ambitions have been
ers to drill 43 exploration wells this year, which hit hard over the past year, however, with both
while almost double the 22 drilled in 2020, is still Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell indicating
short of last year’s targeted 61 wells. that they intend to exit strategically important
“Our fields are generally mature fields, their projects.
decline rates are high, so to compensate, we Chevron excluded the Indonesia Deepwa-
need to drill that many wells,” the Society of ter Development (IDD) from its global portfo-
Indonesian Petroleum Engineers’ (IATMI) lio in August 2020, just weeks after SKK Migas
secretary-general, Hadi Ismoyo, told the Indo- revealed that Shell was in talks to sell its 35%
nesia daily. stake in the Masela block. Soetjipto said on Feb-
Ismoyo noted, however, that the oil price ruary 3 that Italian major Eni was expected to
recovery should result in 2021 being a better year replace the US super-major in IDD before the
for upstream investment. The Brent benchmark end of the first quarter.
Pertamina’s fortunes dominate
Indonesia’s upstream prospects
PROJECTS & INDONESIA’S ability to turn around sev- This shift, he added, will only gain pace once
COMPANIES eral years of oil and gas production declines is the company assumes control of the country’s
becoming increasingly tied to the fortunes of second largest oilfield – Rokan – later this year.
state-owned Pertamina. Chevron currently operates the oilfield but will
As the country’s production becomes con- relinquish the licence in August. Pertamina
solidated under the major’s control, Pertami- manages 41 of the country’s 191 blocks and
na’s development strategies will come to shape is responsible for around 43% of national oil
the country’s upstream prospects, Indonesian production, but this percentage is set to jump
upstream regulator SKK Migas has said. to around 70% once the transfer of the Rokan
“Currently, most of the oil and gas blocks are block’s operatorship has been completed.
in Pertamina, so it really depends on Pertamina’s Rokan produced an average of 176,298 bar-
strategy, whether to be aggressive in investing in rels per day of oil in the third quarter of 2020,
upstream oil and gas in Indonesia,” agency head according to SKK Migas data, though this is
Dwi Soetjipto told CNBC Indonesia on Febru- anticipated to dwindle to 165,000 bpd in 2021.
ary 10. Pertamina has previously said the company
P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 06 11•February•2021
