Bad Weather Reduces RI's Oil Output by 70 Thousand BPD

Jakarta (Antara) - Indonesia's crude oil and condensate production fell 70 thousand barrels per day (bpd) to 745 thousand bpd due to bad weather recently, according to the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKK Migas). "It dropped by about 70 thousand bpd from the normal level of 825 thousand to 830 thousand bpd," the acting SKK Migas chief, J Widjonarko, said here on Monday. The bad weather disrupted several oil facilities, resulting in a production shortfall, he noted. However, oil production is gradually returning to the level of 825 thousand to 830 thousand bpd after repairs on the damaged production facilities were completed, he added. "We expect production to return to normal next week," he said. Widjonarko pointed out that the bad weather had affected a number of oil fields, including the West Madura Offshore (WMO) oil and gas block. The oil pipeline between the single-point mooring facility and the floating storage offloading (FSO) unit, Abherka, in the waters off the northern coast of Surabaya city, suffered a leakage on January 20, reducing oil production from the West Madura Offshore block by 22.5 thousand bpd, he noted. The other oil companies that suffered due to the bad weather were JOB Pertamina Petrochina East Java (PPEJ), Mobil Cepu Limited and PT Pertamina EP Cepu, he added. He explained that the mooring hawser system of the floating storage and offloading unit, Cinta Natomas, which stockpiles oil production from the three operators, broke on January 21, leading to a shortfall in oil production from the three operators by an average of 30 thousand bpd. The bad weather also reduced the oil production from PT Seleraya's oil field by 1.5 thousand bpd, he added. (*)