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ndonesia’s targeted 2011 production of 970,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) seems further from reach following oil and gas regulator BPMigas’ announcement that, as of Monday, the production rate was only 916,000 bpd.

In light of this, BPMigas head R. Priyono said the agency and the government were calculating a more realistic production target, which he expected would be announced as soon as possible.

“It’s difficult [to produce 970,000 bpd]. We’re calculating a more realistic number,” he told reporters after the opening ceremony of a seminar and exhibition in Jakarta on corporate social responsibility.

Priyono said the low rate was due to several shutdowns at major oil fields such as those operated by state oil and gas PT Pertamina and US-based ConocoPhillips. He added that the decline in the production of the West Madura offshore block also contributed to the foreshortened production growth.

The West Madura offshore block currently produces only 13,400 bpd, far below its optimum production potential of above 30,000 bpd, due to uncertainty over the future operator. BPMigas has recommended that the government appoint Pertamina as operator of the block starting May 7 this year, but the final decision has not been made yet.

The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry said earlier that, in a bid to prevent oil production from falling due to unplanned shutdowns, it would optimize supervision of Production Sharing Contract (PSC) holders’ activities.

In 2010, according to BPMigas’s official data, Indonesia failed to reach its oil production target of 965,000 bpd, producing 954,000 bpd, 1.1 percent below the target.

As reported earlier, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajasa said that every incremental drop of 10,000 bpd in oil production would cause Rp 1 trillion (US$ 117 million) in state revenue loss.

The secretary to the chairman of BPMigas, Rudi Rubiandini, estimated that the country’s oil production would not exceed 945,000 bpd this year. To help Indonesia increase its oil production, he suggested that Pertamina optimize old and idle wells within its operation areas.

In response to that request, Pertamina EP, the upstream business unit of Pertamina, announced on Monday that the production of the Ramba oil field in South Sumatra topped 3,450 bpd, an increase of 105 percent, before being taken over in October 2010.

Prior to this month, the field was operated by Elnusa Tristar Ramba under a Technical Assistance Contract (TAC).

Pertamina EP spokesperson Agus Amperianto said in a press statement that his company’s success in increasing the production from a field that could be categorized as old was the result of optimizing the utilization of existing production facilities.

“Around 80 percent of wells at the field were aging so therefore their productions would naturally decline by 18 percent per year. Currently, Pertamina EP is working to prevent the decline while at the other side increasing their production by 7 percent per year,” he said.

This year, to boost production, the company planned to dig 148 exploitation wells and 25 exploration wells in its operation areas across the country, Agus reported.