Indonesia Considers Turning SKK Migas into State-Owned Enterprise

The task at hand is made more pressing as Indonesia, Asia's only ever member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries from 1962 to 2009, has seen a deterioration in its energy supply-demand balance given rising energy consumption and declining production due to maturing wells and a lack of exploration arising from limited upstream investment.

Meanwhile, three liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in Indonesia are facing delays due to the current low oil price environment and regulatory obstacles, Widhyawan Prawiraatmadja, a special adviser to the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, said as quoted by Reuters Wednesday.

First gas from Inpex Corp.'s Abadi LNG Project in Masela Block in the Arafura Sea in eastern Indonesia is now expected in 2022, three years later than scheduled.

The third LNG train for the BP-operated Tangguh project in West Papua province will commence operations a year later than planned in 2020, the Indonesian official said.

BP's regional president for Asia Pacific Christina Verchere told Reuters Thursday that the final investment decision for the third train of the Tangguh project will be made in 2016.

Like Tannguh, the second stage of the Indonesia Deepwater Development (IDD) involving the Gendalo and Gehm fields is slated to come onstream in 2020, a year later than the original schedule, as operator Chevron Corp. reassesses the development proposals.

Delays at the Abadi and IDD projects were partially due to the need for the operators to resubmit their development plans as the volumes of gas from the two projects were larger than the initial estimates, Prawiraatmadja said.

MUST READ

Oil Prices Leave Uneven Impact on Offshore Sector

- Cheang Chee Yew

US Shale Oil's Crash Diet Likely To Bring Forward Output Dip

-Reuters

Balance, Efficiency Key to Hess Weathering Low Oil Price Storm

-Karen Boman