Threatening Oil And Gas Contractors Who Don't Work On Unemployed Wells, Bahlil: We Revoke Their Permits

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia (Photo: Doc. VOI)

JAKARTA - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Bahlil Lahadalia gave strict instructions to all oil and gas contractors to immediately realize the oil well reactivation program which is currently inactive.

Bahlil firmly threatened to revoke the KKKS permit which did not reactivate idle oil wells.

"I ordered idle wells controlled by the KKKS if they are not implemented, we will revoke the permit," Bahlil said in a statement to the media quoted on Tuesday, August 27.

Bahlil revealed that there is a large additional production potential from these idle wells.

"By re-optimizing existing wells, we can significantly increase oil and gas production without the need to carry out new explorations that require greater time and costs," he explained.

For information, of the total 44,985 wells in Indonesia, there are 16,990 wells that are included in the idle well criteria. However, not all have the potential to be reactivized because of something and other things, such as the absence of potential subsurfaces, economy that were not fulfilled due to high cost rectivation and world crude oil prices at that time, as well as HSE and non-technical factors such as community problems.

Bahlil explained that the reactivation of idle wells is one of the strategic steps to increase national energy security. With increased oil and gas production, it is hoped that it can reduce dependence on imports and increase the country's foreign exchange.

For information, the government has set an idle potential oil and gas section (WK) criteria, namely production fields that have not been produced for 2 consecutive years, or there are fields with a plan of development (POD) other than the 1st POD that have not been carried out for 2 consecutive years.

In addition, if there is a structure in the exploitation WK that has received a disclosure status and has not been carried out for 3 consecutive years.

KKKS is given several options to optimize this WK idle, including:

Working on it yourself: KKKS can directly work on the WK idle.

Cooperation: Collaborate with other business entities to implement certain technologies.

Take over another KKKS: WK idle can be proposed to be managed by other KKKS.

Returned to the state: WK idle can be returned to the state for re-auction.