Indonesia's crude oil and natural gas lifting below target in first half

JAKARTA, July 18 (Reuters) — The lifting of oil and gas in Indonesia between January and June fell below target due to unplanned shutdowns and delays in starting projects, upstream regulator SKK Migas said on Tuesday.

Crude oil lifting stood at 615,500 barrels per day (bpd)compared with 660,000 bpd targeted in the state budget. Meanwhile, natural gas lifting was at 5,308 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd), below the target of 6,160 mmscfd.

“There were safety issues, and also leakage in the Offshore Southeast Sumatra (OSES) and Offshore Northwest Java (ONWJ) (oil and gas fields) that … reduced the production,” SKK Migas Chairman Dwi Soetjipto told reporters.

A fatal accident earlier this year in Pertamina’s Rokan Block also led to a company-wide rig assessment, Deputy Chairman Nanang Abdul Manaf said.

“It turns out that some of them can no longer be used, need to be repaired and have to complete (installation of) safety equipment, so we are in a position of rigs shortage,” Nanang added.

Delays in bringing on operations at the Jambaran Tiung Biru gas project and BP’s Tangguh Train 3 LNG plant also contributed to lower than expected lifting.

Indonesia produced around 100 standard cargoes of liquified natural gas (LNG) in the first half of 2023, SKK Migas officials said, of which 71.3 cargoes were exported and around 30 cargoes consumed domestically.

Oil lifting by year-end was seen at 621,000 bpd and natural gas lifting was expected at 5,549 mmscfd. (Reporting by Bernadette Christina and Ananda Teresia; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and David Holmes)