I

ndonesia saw its average crude oil price decline to US$108.56 per barrel in April or down $3 from a month earlier, apparently due to the global economic slowdown.

That oil price, however, is still higher than the assumption in the 2013 State Budget, $100 per barrel.

The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry announced on Thursday the average Indonesian Crude Price (ICP), which is the key factor in determining the country'€™s income and expenses from oil, in April was $100.19 per barrel or down $7.23 per barrel from the $107.42 per barrel in March.

Sumatra Light Crude (SLC) produced from the Minas oil field in Riau, Sumatra, also declined to $101.96 per barrel in April or down 8.2 percent from a month earlier.

The Minas field, which is operated by US-based Chevron Pacific Indonesia, is the country'€™s largest oil block by output, with production of 20 to 25 percent of the country'€™s whole crude output.

The ministry'€™s ICP team blamed the slowdown in global economic growth, including in China and Europe, as the reason behind the declining oil prices in Southeast Asia'€™s largest economy.

In addition, the increasing crude oil production from the North America region as well as in Sudan and Yemen was also cited as key factors behind the declining price.

Globally, the West Texas Intermediate (WT) or Nymex oil price was recorded to decrease from $92.96 per barrel in March to $92.07 per barrel in April.

Brent oil price in April was down $6.11 per barrel from $109.54 in March to $103.43 per barrel in April, while Platts oil price decreased $6.39 per barrel from $114.91 in March to $108.52 per barrel in April.

Despite the declining trend, the ministry will still propose a higher ICP assumption in this month'€™s revision of the 2013 State Budget.

As previously reported, the Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Susilo Siswoutomo said the government would request lawmakers to revise the ICP assumption to between $100 and $110 per barrel from the current assumption of $100 per barrel.

The ministry'€™s oil and gas chief Edy Hermantoro said on Thursday the higher ICP assumption was still reasonable despite the declining trend, citing that the crude oil production target this year is expected to be lower than the 2012 output.

The government is likely to lower this year'€™s daily average crude oil production from the current target of 900,000 barrels per day (bpd) to between 830,000 to 850,000 bpd given the current production trend.

In the first three months of this year, Indonesia, a former sole Southeast Asian member with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), saw its average oil production at 830,900 bpd.

'€œHowever, we have yet to decide the real figures [to be proposed to the lawmakers],'€ Edy Hermantoro said, citing that the ministry would propose the revisions in mid-May.

The higher than expected oil prices last year saved Indonesia from suffering losses on its oil revenue by booking $36 billion, 8 percent higher than the original target despite the dwindling output.

This year, however, the country'€™s upstream regulator proposed for the government to lower its oil and gas revenue target from $31.7 billion as specified in the 2013 State Budget to around $27.9 or $29.5 billion.