PetroChina's business subsidiary in Indonesia, PetroChina International Companies in Indonesia, had set aside as much as US$491 million for investment in 2009 and plans to increase the figure to $639 million in 2010, the company's vice president for partnership and government relations Budi Setiadi told The Jakarta Post recently.

"We are carrying out aggressive exploration activities both to anticipate the natural decline and boost production," Budi said.

He added that the company planned to drill 21 exploitation wells and 15 exploration wells this year. These exploration activities are estimated to cost the company $23 million, including $2 million for seismic surveys.

PetroChina has set targets to produce as much as 106,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BPD) from its operation in Indonesia, up from 104,000 BPD in 2009.

"As of mid April, we have produced about 113, 000 BPD," Budi said.

PetroChina Company Limited, Asia's biggest company by market value, is part of the restructuring of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

PetroChina is CNPC's largest holding subsidiary, listed in Hong Kong, New York and Shanghai.

In the first quarter of 2010, the company produced 210 million barrels of crude oil, representing an increase of 2.1 percent as compared with the same period last year.

In addition, the company also produced 609.9 billion cubic feet of marketable natural gas, representing an increase of 16.5 percent as compared with the same period last year.

The company said it would continue to expand its international operational scale, with rapid growth in overseas oil and gas operations.

Bloomberg reported that the Beijing-based company planned to invest at least $60 billion in the next decade on overseas acquisitions to strengthen its portfolio.

PetroChina entered Indonesia's oil and gas industry in 2002 when the company acquired US-based Devon Energy Companies.

Currently, PetroChina has five oil and gas blocks which have reached the production stage and another one in the exploration stage.

The five operational blocks are: Jabung and Bangko in Jambi, Bermuda and Salawati in Papua, and Tuban in East Java.

The Tuban and Salawati blocks are operated jointly with state oil and gas company PT Pertamina.

Of the five blocks, the Jabung and the Tuban blocks are the backbone of PetroChina's oil production in Indonesia with each block contributing about 58,000 BPD and 42,000 BPD, respectively.

SPE Petroleum Ltd, a subsidiary of Petrochina Indonesia, has also begun exploration activities in the Madura block in East Java.

As the holding company plans to expand its overseas operations, PetroChina International Companies in Indonesia is also looking to strengthen its presence in the country, Budi said.

He added that the company was looking forward to acquire new blocks. "We are very interested to enter new blocks be it exploration or production blocks," he said.

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