Vice President Inspects Cepu Block of Fields

Bojonegoro, East Java (Antara) - Vice President Boediono inspected the Cepu Block development project of oil and gas fields in Banyu Urip in Bojonegoro, East Java, on Thursday. "I wanted to check the progress of the project and why it had been delayed," he said. He said the project was important and strategic for maintaining or even raising the country's oil production. "If there are problems I wish they can be solved immediately so that they will not disrupt production," he said. Acting chief of the special working unit for the implementation of upstream oil and gas business activities J Widjanarko said the development of the project had reached 87 percent as of the third week of April 2014. With initial production facilities, the project, since its operation from August 2009 until now, had produced a total of 36 million barrels of oil cumulatively worth US$.3.47 billion, he said. Currently, production from the fields, which are managed by production sharing contractor Mobil Cepu Ltd., is about 29,000 barrels of oil per day and starting in September it is expected to increase by 10,000 barrels a day with additional facilities. Drilling has been carried out in 49 wells, consisting of 33 oil production wells and 16 injection wells. The drilling was completed before schedule. The project is important and strategic with regard to the country's energy resilience because it can contribute almost 20 percent of the total national oil production. (*) Reporting by Ahmad Wijaya