Oil Production In 1st Semester At 122,000 BPD

Jakarta, July 4 (Antara) - PT Pertamina EP said production of oil and condensate in the first semester of 2013 was recorded at 122,000 barrels a day. The vice president for exploitation of the upstream subsidiary of PT Pertamina, Herutama Trikoranto, said here on Thursday the production was a bit lower than the target set at 123,000 barrels a day. "We will try to achieve the target in the second semester. Even we are optimistic production will reach 127,000 to 128,000 barrels a day until the end of the year," he said. Based on the 2013 work program and budget, Pertamina EP is expected to produce 132,000 barrels of oil a day but the target was later revised down to 123,000 barrels a day after the national oil production target was reduced from 900,000 to 840,000 barrels a day. Heru said among the obstacles hindering production in the first semester was non-technical problems especially land acquisition and license especially for exploration in the protected forest area. The technical problems meanwhile include a delay in drilling due to loss circulation and under surface issues that have made production fail to meet expectations. As a result of the problems plans to increase production by 11,000 barrels a day in the first semester of 2013 failed as only 4,200 barrels could be added. In 2012 Pertamina EP recorded up to 13,500 barrels a day in additional production out of a target of 14,200 barrels a day. "Last year it was better due to the absence of non-technical problems," he said. He said he planned to multiply work over in production wells to avoid land acquisition and license problems. "Work over needs no land acquisition and a license," he added. Heru said he has set a target of increasing production up to 4,000 barrels a day in the second semester.