Govt Expects Cepu Production to Start in March 2015

Singapore (Antara) - The Indonesian government hoped that the Banyu Urip Field in Cepu Block, Bojonegoro District, East Java, will start producing oil in March 2015. The oil field will reach its peak production of 165 thousand barrels per day in July 2015, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik announced after giving the name "Gagak Rimang" to a floating storage and offloading (FSO) ship at the Sembawang dockyard in Singapore on Tuesday. "Cepu oil production will become one of the pillars to achieve a target of 845 thousand barrels per day in the 2015 state budget," he noted. The production target of Banyu Urip was behind schedule in late 2014, particularly because of non-technical constraints such as land clearance and licensing. Meanwhile, the FSO ship has been named after the horse of Adipati Arya Penangsang who had governed Blora, Cepu, Bojonegoro, and Tuban areas in the 16th century. The ship docked in the North Tuban coast, East Java, is 340 meters long, 50 meters wide, and 50 meters high. The ship, which has a capacity of carrying two million barrels, is operated by Mobil Cepu Limited, a business unit of ExxonMobil Indonesia. Also present at the event were Director General of Oil and Gas of the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry Edy Hermantoro, acting chief of the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKK Migas) J Widjonarko, Regional Vice President of ExxonMobil Development Company Raymond E Jones, Bojonegoro District Head Suyoto, and Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore Andri Hadi. (*) Reported by Kelik Dewanto