Reuters: Regulatory News: Indonesia energy regulator trims 2014 oil target -media

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Indonesia energy regulator trims 2014 oil target -media May 23rd 2013, 04:29 JAKARTA | Thu May 23, 2013 12:29am EDT JAKARTA May 23 (Reuters) - Indonesia's energy regulator says the country's oil production target next year is too optimistic, and wants it scaled back between roughly 4 percent and 8 percent, domestic media reported on Thursday. The former OPEC member was once self-sufficient in oil and gas but has been struggling for years to attract investment to halt declining oil output. Southeast Asia's largest economy has often missed annual oil production targets, which have gradually fallen from a peak of 1.6 million bpd in 1995. The government set an oil production target of between 900,000 and 930,000 barrels per day in its 2014 budget proposal announced on Monday. But Rudi Rubiandini, chairman of SKKMigas, said the regulator wanted to see a match between the target and planning, the Jakarta Globe newspaper said. "We don't want any irrational budget assumptions," the paper quoted him as saying on Wednesday. "Whether the lower end and the top end of the target will be achieved will depend entirely on when Exxon Mobil's Cepu block in East Java starts production," Rubiandini added, referring to Indonesia's biggest oil find in the past decade. If Cepu didn't come onstream until later in the year then average output would only be 860,000 barrels per day, he added. This figure compares to crude lifting of around 840,000 bpd in March, when the regulator said it hoped Indonesia could exceed 1 million bpd in 2014. Indonesia is banking on Cepu to prop up its dwindling domestic output of crude, with anticipated additional production of 165,000 bpd when the block begins full operation next year. The government has put pressure on Cepu block operator Exxon Mobil to meet its target, through measures such as the effective dismissal this year of its local chief executive. Indonesia's natural gas output will be unchanged next year, at around 1.24 million barrels of oil equivalent, the regulator said. Natural gas output is expected to increase in 2016 when large-scale gas projects commence, including the Masela block operated by Inpex and Indonesia Deep Water Development operated by a wholly-owned Indonesian unit of Chevron Corp , he said. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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