Energy majors to reduce output in Indonesia in 2016 -regulator

By Wilda Asmarini
JAKARTA, June 11

Global energy companies are expected to continue to reduce oil and gas production in Indonesia next year, the country’s upstream energy regulator
said on Thursday.

Indonesia was once self-sufficient in oil and gas but has struggled for years to attract investment to halt declining output – difficulties that have been exacerbated by the current
environment of weak oil prices.

A further drop in production next year will put more pressure on public finances in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, which is increasingly turning to imports to feed escalating fuel demand.

“Generally, we can see production is declining,” Zikrullah, deputy chairman of energy regulator SKKMigas, told parliament, referring to output of crude oil and gas at several major firms, noting some exceptions.

Average daily output from the Cepu block operated by ExxonMobil could increase by up to 41 percent to 165,000 bpd in 2016 from an expected 116,900 bpd this year, he said. Earlier the company said it expected output to peak at 200,000 bpd this year.

Output at Chevron, the biggest crude producer in Indonesia, has fallen 24 percent since 2010, Zikrullah said.

French oil company Total said on Thursday it expected output from Indonesia’s top gas-producing field to decline by around 12.5 percent in 2016 as the company cuts
spending by at least 35 percent.

While oil and gas production is falling, gasoline demand in Indonesia, one of the world’s biggest importers of refined products, is rising. It is expected to increase 38 percent in
the third quarter of this year from a year earlier to 6.6 million barrels.

Energy production is also an important source of Indonesia’s state revenues, but government oil revenues are expected to drop by at least a third this year as a fall in production costs has failed to keep pace with a 40 percent drop in oil prices
over the past year and threatens to limit future output.

The regulator targets national crude output for 2015 at 828,000 barrels per day.
SKKMigas said in December it expects spending in the upstream sector to total $22.2 billion in 2015, down from a 2014 target of $25.6 billion.

Tables below show SKKMigas’s latest oil and gas targets for several of the biggest energy firms in Indonesia in 2015 and 2016.

                         Gas (mmscfd)
                      2015      2016e
                     ------     ------
                 BP   1012     900-982
              Total   1420   1,198-1,307
     ConocoPhillips   1170    1051-1146
 
                         Oil (mbopd)
                      2015      2016e
                     ------     ------
                 BP   <6^        5.7^
              Total   65.7    55.7-57.1
     ConocoPhillips   28.9     23.4-24
            Chevron   295    265.5-276.9
         ExxonMobil  116.9    161.1-165
 
    ^ Company estimate

Note: Data shown is amalgamated where companies have more than one Indonesian unit in production.

(Writing by Fergus Jensen; Editing by Susan Fenton)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/11/indonesia-energy-output-idUSL3N0YX4M620150611