Oil Prices Rise, Elnusa Sees New Opportunities in Upstream Oil and Gas Sector
JAKARTA - The oil and gas services issuer PT Elnusa Tbk (ELSA) assesses the rise in world oil prices amid the heating of the global geopolitical situation, including conflicts involving Israel, the United States, and Iran, as an opportunity for increased upstream oil and gas sector activities in Indonesia.
Elnusa Finance Director Nelwin Aldriansyah explained that the spike in oil prices could make a number of oil and gas fields that were previously considered less economical more feasible to develop.
According to him, this condition has the potential to open opportunities for Elnusa in expanding its main business as a contractor service provider in the oil and gas sector.
He said that when oil prices were below 60 US dollars per barrel, some exploration projects were not attractive enough to run, but with higher oil prices today, these projects are starting to show better economic potential so that lifting activities become more possible.
Nelwin also added that the cost of production or lifting in Indonesia is relatively higher than in countries in the Middle East region.
However, he said that if the price of oil remained at a high level for a long enough period of time, then fields that were previously considered marginal could be reconsidered for development.
According to him, the increase in oil and gas exploration and exploitation activities will encourage an increase in drilling activities and this can ultimately have a positive impact on the oil and gas services business being carried out.
"Our hope is that with the increase in exploitation and exploration activities, drilling activities can increase and this has a positive impact on Elnusa's business activities," he said.
In terms of operations, he added that his party currently has a fairly comprehensive upstream oil and gas service portfolio, which includes geoscience and reservoir services, drilling and workover services, as well as well intervention services that support various exploration activities to oil and gas production.
Apart from these services, Nelwin said the company is also supported by various operational facilities such as coiled tubing units, cementing units, wireline logging, and well testing services which are an important part of the drilling and oil and gas production process.
Throughout the 2025 operational year, Elnusa recorded a number of activities in the upstream oil and gas sector, including 1,298 wireline logging jobs, testing of more than 16,000 wells, and drilling activities using nine modular rig wells.
In terms of business, Elnusa's performance was also strengthened by a solid contract portfolio where the company recorded carry forward contracts until 2026 of IDR 11.9 trillion in the integrated upstream oil and gas segment, reflecting the still strong demand for services in the sector.
Nelwin also highlighted the latest geopolitical developments, including Iran's blockade of oil transport in the Strait of Hormuz, which had sparked concerns about global energy supplies.
According to him, this situation is an important reminder for Indonesia to strengthen national energy resilience, especially considering that the previous government stated that the national fuel oil (BBM) reserves are estimated to be sufficient for only about 20 days.
"This is certainly a challenge for Indonesia's energy resilience. We hope that this condition can encourage higher incentives from the government to increase domestic oil lifting," he said.
He added that the increase in national oil production is also in line with the government's target to reach 1 million barrels per day in the coming years.
According to him, with the increase in domestic production, Indonesia's dependence on crude oil imports is expected to decrease.
"This activity certainly also has the potential to have a positive impact on Elnusa's business activities," he said.