Old Wells Are Caused By The Decline Of National Oil Lifting

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin tasrif. (Photo: Maria Trisnawati/VOI)

JAKARTA - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Arifin Tasrif opened his voice regarding the declining oil lifting.

Based on the official website of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Indonesia's oil production as of November 1, 2023 has only reached 586,725 barrels of oil per day (bopd).

The government even though it targets production in 2023 to be 622,662 BOPD.

Arifin said this decline was due to many Indonesian oil wells that had entered old age, so they tended to experience a decline in production.

"Indeed, our wells are having a hard time getting old, tend to decline. Oil is getting deeper and the mixture with water is increasing," Arifin told the media at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Building, Friday, November 3.

Arifin said, if at first it was pumped 10 liters, it consisted of 1 liter of water and 9 liters of oil, while when 5 liters of 10 liters were pumped it was water.

"That's why we pumped a lot so that the volume of oil is as much as possible," added Arifin.

He said, RI currently still has 15,000 oil wells that have not been managed and have abundant oil potential.

"We have asked for it to be accelerated. If one well can add 5 barrels, it's quite expensive at 15,000 times. Pertamina can only do 2,000 (wells) out of 15,000, so we ask for acceleration. Which one is prioritized to be immediately held by Pertamina, and which one cooperates with the private sector. The point is to be able to optimize that," said Arifin.

Then to spur the production and achievement of domestic lifting, Arifin said, the government will maximize the production of non-conventional oil (MNK) which is currently being worked on at the Gulamo well, Rokan.

It is known, the potential for MNK in the Rokan Block reaches 1.28 billion barrels.

"Later, December will drill again one in Kelor. Two of them this year, next year we will see again, but so far the indication is that there is hope in Gulamo," concluded Arifin.