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ertamina EP, the upstream business unit of state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina, expects to produce 126,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) in February, lower than the government’s target of 135,000 bpd.

The company produced just 123,879 bpd in January, due to shortfalls in several fields, including the Sukowati field in East Java where output reached only 32,000 bpd, well below a 36,000 bpd target.

Pertamina EP planned to produce an additional of 2,000 bpd, starting January, from the Natuna Sea. However, the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit was not ready so production had been delayed until now.

“We also had disruptions with our compressor at the Poleng block in East Java. The block should have produced 5,000 bpd, but its current output is only 3,000 bpd,” Pertamina EP president director Syamsu Alam said on Friday.

“We hope that production can reach 126,000 bpd this month and gradually increase until touching 135,000 bpd by the end of the year,” he added.

He said that to increase production, Pertamina EP would accelerate several projects, including the repair of broken equipment and the drilling of several new wells at the X-Ray field off Indramayu in East Java.

“We’re optimistic that the production rate will exceed 130,000 bpd in April,” Syamsu said.

The company also proposes a “put on production” (POP) scheme, where projects are accelerated when a company does not build its own production facilities, for several fields. Through the scheme, the company can get 1,000 bpd from West Java and 1,500 bpd from South Sumatera. It will also solve permit problems for several wells in the Java region.

“This year we plan to drill 24 exploration wells and around 130 [production] development wells,” Syamsu said.

According to data from upstream oil and gas regulator BPMigas, Pertamina EP was one of the oil companies that failed to meet production targets set by the government in January.

In 2011, the company also failed to achieve the production target of 132,000 bpd, instead contributing 123,518 bpd.

BPMigas reported that Pertamina EP’s failure was caused by disruptions of the BN-18 well at the Bunyu field in East Kalimantan, as well as lower than expected drilling activity.

Pertamina EP is the second largest oil producer in the country, after Chevron Pacific Indonesia produced 356,987 bpd last year.

Indonesia currently needs to increase oil production. In January, the country’s output fell to 886,508 bpd, from 2011’s average of 905,000 bpd. BPMigas has revealed that 60 percent of the drop in production was caused by problems, such as delayed permits and clashes with local residents.