The Directorate General of Oil and Gas announced Wednesday the majority of oil contractors in the country failed to achieve their daily production target in the first four months of this year.

A total of 22 contractors from 37 oil companies operating in the country saw their production reports for the January-April period marked with red, indicating the country's goal to produce on average 977,000 barrel of oil per day (bpd) was under threat, the directorate said.

Among the flagging companies were state oil and gas firm Pertamina, France-based oil company Total E&P Indonesie, Medco E&P and British-based oil giant BP in West Java.

"We do this because we want to give them warning and make sure they will meet their production commitments they made earlier," director general of oil and gas Luluk Sumiarso said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

However, when asked whether there would be penalties issued, Luluk said the government had decided to undertake a soft approach; encouraging improvements by publicly embarrassing the companies.

However, he said he remained upbeat the country would enjoy an increase in oil production this year as the monthly average had surpassed the target set in the state budget.

The report shows production missed the target only in January, which saw an output of 955,047 bpd, and that the figures increased to 986,848 bpd in February, 985,872 bpd in March and 978,960 bpd in April.

The country's biggest contributor remains U.S.-based Chevron Pacific Indonesia, which accounts for almost half of national oil output. During the January-April period, Chevron produced an average 414,765 bpd, exceeding its commitment of 408,000 bpd for this year. However, the figure was still lower compared to last year's period, which saw the company produce 425,478 bpd.

Many contractors have posed lower targets for 2008 compared to last year due to depleting reserves and aging oil fields.

Pertamina remained the nation's second biggest contributor for the period despite the lower-than-expected results. --rm

Oil production report January to April 2008

No. Oil Companies Production Target January February March April Average Percentage of target

1 Chevron Pacific Indonesia 408,000 420,266 416,977 414,190 409,960 414,765 101.6

2 Pertamina 128,000 108,924 113,424 113,598 107,695 110,704 86.49

3 Total E&P Indonesie 93,000 93,826 91,370 90,046 94,159 92,430 99.39

4. ConocoPhillips Indonesia 67,200 48,693 82,306 84,977 86,298 76,317 113.57

5. CNOOC SES 42,600 48,522 48,085 47,587 47,901 47,946 112.55

6. Chevron Indonesia 28,000 35,594 34,125 34,044 33,376 34,401 122.86

7. Medco E&P Indonesia 33,340 33,453 33,419 32,833 31,769 32,806 98.4

8. BOB PN-PT BSP 24,700 22,474 22,471 22,250 21,178 22,031 89.19

9. BP- West Java 23,000 21,104 21,604 23,075 23,169 22,448 97.6

10. PetroChina Jabung 19,900 18,977 20,009 20,132 20,457 19,933 100.17

source: Directorate General of Oil and Gas

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