09 January 2013, Sweetcrude, Jakarta – Indonesia’s oil and gas investment may rise by a fifth to $26.2 billion in 2013 from the $21.9 billion commitment last year, a government agency said Tuesday.
SKMigas, a temporary unit of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources which oversees the upstream oil and gas sector, said in a statement it has approved contractors’ plan to explore 75 oil and gas wells and 82 sources for coal bed methane.
Indonesia left the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries in 2008 after becoming a net oil importer earlier in the decade. Output peaked at 1.6 million barrels a day in 1965 and again in 1976, and a lack of investment has seen the ratio of oil exploited to oil discovered fall below 100%.
Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said, Monday, oil output averaged 865,000 bbl/day in 2012, below a government target of 930,000 bbl/day. The government also missed its target in 2011, producing 898,000 bbl/day, well below its 945,000 bbl/day target.
The government targets oil production of 900,000 bbl/day for this year, although analysts doubt such a target could be met.