Pertamina boosts investment

In a bid to realize its ambitious target of doubling production by 2015, Indonesia’s state oil and gas company PT Pertamina will boost investments to Rp 37.1 trillion (US$4.1 billion) this year. Pertamina spokesman Mochamad Harun said the investment allocated for this year would be about 86.5% higher than 2009. With the bigger spending, Pertamina expected to crank up production capacity to 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOEPD) in the next five years. He said 76.4% of the planned investments, or Rp 28.4 trillion (US$3.1 billion) , would be channeled to the upstream sector, while the remaining Rp 8.7 trillion (US$961.22 million) would be allocated to downstream operations. “To achieve the target, Pertamina will accelerate the production of oil, natural gas and geothermal sources. In the downstream sector, we will improve our refineries’ profitability,” he said in a press statement. He said that the company is also targeting to expand lubricant sales by 19%, from 458,000 kiloliters (kl) last year to 546,000 kl. For its aviation business, the company seeks to boost sales of aviation fuel from 3.19 million kl in 2010 to 3.3 million kl this year. (January 21, 2011)