Indonesia Q1 oil, gas lifting improves but below govt target

By Fransiska Nangoy and Bernadette Christina

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's oil and gas lifting between January and March rose from the same period a year earlier but came in below targets set in the state budget due to unplanned shutdowns, upstream regulator SKK Migas told media on Monday.

Crude oil lifting stood at 612,700 barrels per day (bpd) in the first quarter while natural gas lifting was at 5,399 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd). These compared to 611,700 bpd oil lifting in the same quarter last year and 5,321 mmscfd of gas lifting.

The state budget has targeted 660,000 bpd of oil lifting and 6,160 mmscfd gas distribution for the year.

The Southeast Asian nation faced lower lifting entry points this year due to less-than-expected production from the Rokan block in 2022, while production activities at other blocks were affected by a number of unplanned shutdowns, said senior official Wahju Wibowo.

In the first quarter, Indonesia produced 49.7 cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG), around 24% of the full year target, and exported 35 cargoes.

Indonesia has seen sluggish oil and gas production in recent years due to depleting blocks while some major new projects have faced delays.

BP's Tangguh Train-3 gas project, which has been delayed from an earlier target of 2021, would have its "first LNG drop" around June, Wahju said.

Meanwhile, SKK Migas expected a sales purchase agreement to be signed later this month for the operatorship of the Indonesia Deepwater Development (IDD) gas project, chairman Dwi Soetjipto said, without naming the new investor.

U.S. energy company Chevron announced in early 2020 its intention to exit its 62% stake in the IDD project as it makes changes to its global portfolio.

An energy ministry official had flagged Italy's Eni as a potential IDD operator.

The regulator also expected Indonesia's state energy firm Pertamina to submit its binding offer this month to take over Shell's 35% share in Masela gas project, Dwi said.

(Reporting by Fransiska Nangoy, Bernadette Christine Munthe; Editing by Ed Davies, Kanupriya Kapoor)