T

he Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas) is currently chasing 15 unreachable oil and gas companies that have failed to report their activities to the regulator.

An announcement that SKKMigas summoned the 15 companies to report has been published in a local newspaper, according to the task force'€™s chief, Amien Sunaryadi.

'€œThe 15 companies have been in exploration activities for quite a long time, however, they didn'€™t meet their commitment. We couldn'€™t find their offices and contact persons cannot be contacted,'€ Amien said.

The 15 companies are Amstelco Karapan Pte. Ltd. working on the Karapan block, East Bawean Ltd. on East Bawean I block, Ecosse Energy Bengkulu Pty. Ltd. on Bengkulu block, Ecosse Energy (Manokwari) Ltd. on Manokwari block, PT Sigma Energy Petrogas on Enrekang block, AED Rombebai BV on Rombebai block, Inparol Pte. Ltd. on Asmat block, Orna International Ltd. on Rembang block, Halmahera Petroleum Ltd. on Halmahera block, PT Insani Bina Perkasa on Alas Jati block, PT Brilliance Energy on Briliance block, Bumi Perdana Energy Limited-Glory Wealth Pacific Ltd on Batang Asin coal bed methane (CBM) block, CBM Asia Kuala Kapuas Ltd. on Kuala Kapuas I block, CBM Asia Besar Ltd. on Bentian Besar block and CBM Asia Hulu Ltd. on Indragiri Hulu block.

According to the announcement, the companies must reply to the regulatory body within 14 days after the publication.

Amien declined to comment on SKKMigas'€™ moves should the companies fail to respond to the announcement.

To date, the country hosts more than 300 oil and gas working areas, according to figures from SKKMigas. Out of the total figure, as many as 80 blocks are in exploitation stage, 62 in production, 18 in development and the other 182 in exploration stages.

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said expected that SKKMigas'€™ summoning of the unidentified firms would be a fresh move for the industry.

'€œThis is a move that has never been performed in the past. We hope that these initiatives will establish a more professional industry and encourage performing oil and gas contractors to be do better,'€ the minister said.

While oil output has been declining, the realization of committed activities in the working areas is necessary for Indonesia. Figures from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry showed that oil output reached 806,424 barrels per day on Monday, thanks to the additional production from Banyu Urip field at Cepu block.

The government expects oil output will reach 825,000 barrels per day this year.