Pertamina EP Tambun field to produce up to 10,780 bpd this year

Bekasi West Java -Pertamina EP says that the firm aims to produce between 10,450 and 10,780 barrels of oil per day (bpd) from the Tambun field in Bekasi, West Java this year, or between 95 and 98 percent of its target of 11,000 bpd.

The company’s manager for the Tambun field, Dean Rusdi, revealed that from January to Oct. 7, the field’s average production stood at around 8,000 bpd.

“[The failure to reach the target] is caused by declining production from several oil wells and the increasing water content,” he told a delegation of journalists visiting the field on Friday.

He revealed that currently there were 65 wells at the Tambun field.

Pertamina EP, a wholly owned subsidiary of state oil and gas company PT Pertamina, had applied enhanced-oil recovery (EOR) technology of water injection at 14 wells to ramp up their production, he added.

Oil produced at the field is delivered to the Balongan refinery in West Java to be processed through a pipeline network which can channel between 10,000 and 11,000 bpd. The field has a total storage capacity of 25,000 barrels.

According to upstream oil and gas regulator BPMigas data, for the period spanning January to Sept. 5 this year the oil production of Pertamina EP remained at 122,350 bpd, much lower than the government target of 132,000 bpd. The government expects the company to produce 135,000 bpd in 2012.

In addition to oil, the Tambun field also produces natural gas. Its production average as of Oct. 7 reached 60 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd), surpassing the target of 59 mmscfd.

Pertamina EP was also continuing to look for further oil reserves at the field; the company had just completed production tests at Pondok Berkah well, Dean said. He added that the well might produce between 800 bpd and 1,000 bpd of oil and 7 mmscfd of natural gas.

“The well is an exploration well with a depth of 2,500 meters. We’ve completed the test, but we can’t start the production yet because we need permission from BPMigas,” he said.

When asked about the company’s relations with people who lived near the field, Dean said Pertamina EP had created a good relationship with local people through its corporate social responsibility programs (CSR).

“However, sometimes there are disturbances. Some people or non-governmental organizations stage rallies. If there’s a demonstration, we have to stop drilling activities, it causes losses for us,” he said.

People usually protested about the noise from the field’s activities and damaged public roads caused by heavy equipment, he continued.

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