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View all search resultsRokan block oil output could plunge 30% a year, operator chief says
The Rokan zone alone drills nearly 500 wells annually, the highest tally of any single operating area in Indonesia.
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The sun sets beyond an oil and gas rig operated by Saka Energi Muriah Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of state gas company PGN, in the Kepodang Field of the Muriah Block off Semarang, Central Java, in this undated handout photo. (SKK Migas/SKK Migas.)
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roduction from Indonesia's most vital oil block in Riau could drop by nearly a third within a single year without an aggressive drilling campaign, a senior executive at PT Pertamina Hulu Rokan (PHR) has cautioned, revealing the stark depletion rates forcing the company into a relentless race to maintain baseline output.
"The baseline when we talk about production, at PHR, it was almost 200,000 [barrels of oil per day]. If we don't do anything, that's it; it's a decline," Muhammad Arifin, director of PHR Regional 1 Sumatra, said in Bogor, West Java, on Wednesday.
"If we produce 200,000 [bpd] a year and just open and close the valve, the next year it's gone by 30 percent. Our production is down to around 140,000. The following year, another 40 percent is gone."
The Rokan zone alone drills nearly 500 wells annually, the highest tally of any single operating area in Indonesia. Zone 4 in South Sumatra drills almost 100 wells, while Zone 1, stretching from North Sumatra to Jambi, adds another 40 to 50.
"If we talk about Indonesia as a whole, Sumatra has the most drilling," Arifin noted.
The challenge is compounded by the perennial tension between technical field realities and state budget targets set by upstream regulator SKK Migas. Arifin described a dynamic in which operational constraints and fiscal demands rarely align perfectly, yet acknowledged their motivational effect.
"If the target is mediocre, it might not [count as] a target," he said.
