Pertamina EP to boost oil and gas production next year

After exceeding this year's production target, PT Pertamina EP, a subsidiary of state oil and gas firm PT Pertamina, says it is ready to increase oil production from 130,200 barrels per day in 2010 to 132,000 next year.

Pertamina EP president director Salis S. Aprilian said Thursday that his company also successfully ramped up its gas production from 1,043 million to 1,054 million metric standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd).

“As of November this year, we booked Rp 19.6 trillion (US$2.2 billion) in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBIT),” he announced at a media gathering in Jakarta.

With that achievement, he added, Pertamina EP had become the largest profit contributor, around 80 percent, to parent company Pertamina this year. He also affirmed his firm's commitment to be a world class company by 2014.

In 2010, the company set an oil production target of 128,000 barrel per day.

The company's data show that since it was established in 2005, it has consistently expanded its oil and gas production. The company's oil production reached 101,200 barrels per day in 2006 and grew by 8.9 percent in 2007 to 110,300 barrels. In 2008, it successfully expanded its production by 2.3 percent to 116,600 barrels and then jumped significantly to 127,100 barrels in 2009.

Pertamina EP also booked consistent growth in gas production in the past five years. In 2006, it produced only 869 mmscfd. In 2007, production increased 12.7 percent to 980 mmscfd. A year later, production reached 1,003 mmscfd, up 2.3 percent from the previous year. Last year, the company recorded a 3.9 percent increase in production to 1,043 mmscfd.