By Fransiska Nangoy and Bernadette Christina
JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesia said on Wednesday it missed oil and gas production targets last year but expects long-stalled gas projects, the Indonesia Deepwater Development (IDD) and Masela gas blocks, to resume development soon.
The Southeast Asian country, which aims to boost its crude oil lifting to 1 million barrel per day (bpd) and gas to 12,000 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) by 2030, and is ramping up efforts to attract investment and to get stalled projects going.
U.S. oil giant Chevron is close to reaching a deal with an investor to transfer its stake and operatorship of IDD, said Dwi Soetjipto, head of upstream oil and gas regulator (SKK Migas).
Chevron announced in early 2020 its intention to exit its 62% stake in the project as it makes sweeping changes to its global portfolio.
“Chevron and the candidate who will take over have agreed that this could be concluded in the first quarter,” Dwi said, without disclosing name of the candidate.
Tutuka Ariadji, a senior energy ministry official, told parliament in December that authorities hoped Italian energy company Eni could take over operatorship of IDD.
Chevron and Eni did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
The IDD project, located in the Makassar Strait, involves the Bangka, Gendalo and Gehem gas fields. Production has begun at Bangka. The project has a planned design capacity of 1.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 47,000 barrels of condensate per day, according Chevron’s website.
SKK Migas hopes IDD can come onstream by 2028.
Meanwhile, Indonesian state energy company Pertamina is negotiating to take over Shell’s partnership in the Masela gas project, Dwi said.
Indonesia’s upstream production in 2022 came below target amid unplanned shutdowns and due to maturing blocks.
Crude oil lifting stood at 612,300 bpd last year and gas lifting at 5,347 mmscfd, Dwi told reporters, compared to targets of 703,000 bpd oil and 5,800 mmscfd gas.
For 2023, oil lifting is targeted at 660,000 bpd and gas is targeted at 6,160 mmscfd. Liquefied natural gas output is seen at 204 to 206 cargoes this year, up from last year’s 196 cargoes.
Two projects that were delayed from last year would come onstream this year and help increase output, SKK Migas officials said, including BP’s Tangguh Train-3.
Upstream investment last year stood at $12.3 billion, up from $10.9 billion in 2021, Dwi said, while in 2023, investment is targeted at $15.54 billion.
The number of drillings, which has been on a downward trend in the past ten years, started to rise last year, SKK Migas data showed.
The regulator also approved in 2022 development plans for a number of oil and gas projects with a combined investment of $22.89 billion over the next few years, official Benny Lubiantara said. This year, SKK Migas may approve development plans for up to 45 new projects, he added.
(Reporting by Fransiska Nangoy, Bernadette Christina Munthe; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor and Bernadette Baum)