Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arcandra Tahar has said that Indonesia needs to intensify exploration for new oil fields, because the country’s proven oil reserves will only support about 12 years of exploitation.

He explained that Indonesia had 3.3 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, while estimated production was 800,000 barrels per day.

“It could be a bit longer, because our production will decline. Next year, our oil production will decline to 700,000 bpd,” Arcandra said in Jakarta on Monday, as quoted by kontan.co.id.

He stressed that the development of new technology to pump more oil from existing fields and to discover new oil reserves were the only ways for Indonesia to prolong its oil production.

Arcandra explained that the existing technology would only allow for lifting between 40 and 50 percent of the oil reserves.

“There is no technology that can lift more. As long as our citizens cannot find new technology, we cannot produce more oil than that.”

Arcandra said Indonesia’s proven oil reserves were only 0.2 percent of the global proven oil reserves, while Indonesia’s reserve replacement ratio (RRR) was only 50 percent, meaning the finding of new oil reserves was only half of the oil being lifted.

“Meanwhile, in our neighboring countries, the RRR reaches up to 100 percent,” he added.

Arcandra said Indonesia’s gas reserves were much better, for they could still be exploited for 25 to 50 years. (bbn)

source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/03/27/indonesias-proven-oil-reserves-to-last-just-12-years-arcandra.html

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