Pursuing Lifting, There Are Still 80 Oil And Gas Basins That Have Not Been Explored
JAKARTA - The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) revealed that there are at least 80 oil and gas basins in Indonesia that have not been explored.
Head of the Working Team for the Recommendation of the Mineral and Gas Inspection Areas of the Geological Agency of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Indra Nurdiana said that of the approximately 128 basins owned, Indonesia's upstream oil and gas industry could only produce in 20 basins. Meanwhile, there are 100 other basins that have not been produced.
"If we look at the actual active working area, only about 20 basins and we still have a lot left," said Indra in the 2025 Energy & Mineral Festival agenda quoted on Thursday, July 31.
This, according to him, is one of the reasons why Indonesia lacks data on most basins so that Indonesia is still struggling when looking for investors in the upstream oil and gas sector.
"The main thing we need is data. Without data, we can't explain what the potential looks like. So actually the most important issue here is that there are about 80 stalls of data, we really have geological data and the subsurface data is very lacking," he explained.
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Indra added, together with SKK Migas, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources continues to explore oil and gas basins, especially in frontier areas, so there is a potential figure that can be presented in front of investors.
"Even though it is still far from the word production, what is called far away if we don't start the step, when do we want to arrive," said Indra.
Furthermore, Indra said that the government did not want to repeat mistakes in the era of upstream oil and gas glory where Indonesia had even been a member of OPEC. At that time, Indonesia forgot the importance of exploration activities so that the decline in lifting continues. To date, the lifting rate is in the range of 580,000 barrels per day (BOPD) for the first semester/2025.
"For us to talk about energy resilience, of course we have to explore a new WK, that's what is important to do. We shouldn't be complacent because we have what was conveyed earlier years ago we entered OPEC, we enjoyed it without exploring it," he said.