JAKARTA: Indonesia will explore more potential areas to increase oil and gas production, Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) minister, Arifin Tasrif, said.
According to reports in the Antara news agency, since 2014, there has been no new exploration in Indonesia and because of this, the ministry plans to pursue infrastructure development in areas with the potential to produce oil and gas.
Exploration is a step to increase production amid the declining productivity of old wells, Arifin said adding production from potential areas might take a long time, therefore the need focus on exploration efforts.
"In terms of oil, there is a tendency for old wells to start decreasing their production. We must be able to maintain production levels by taking steps to increase production," he said.
Currently, the ministry is working on developing gas infrastructure connecting North Sumatra to East Java.
Also, oil production in Rokan block, Riau, has shown an increase while in the Mahakam Block, East Kalimantan, construction work has also been completed to increase production capacity.
He said he is targeting that next year, oil and gas production will be able to maintain crude oil lifting at 680 thousand barrels per day and gas lifting at 1.05 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
In his 2023 draft state budget speech on Tuesday, President Joko Widodo announced the target of crude oil lifting at 660 thousand barrels per day and gas lifting at 1.05 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.