OPEC's newest member Indonesia is producing 830,000 b/d of oil, in line with its target for this year, energy minister Sudirman Said said as he arrived at Thursday's OPEC meeting, the first since Indonesia's readmission.
Indonesia, OPEC's only Asia-Pacific member, was re-admitted at the start of this year after a suspension of its membership in 2008.
"Current production is 830,000 b/d. We will maintain this level because it is our optimum production level," the minister told journalists.
In 2015, Indonesia produced 786,000 b/d of oil and 8.078 Bcf/d of gas, according to the country's official statistics.
In the first quarter of this year it pumped 835,000 b/d of crude oil, above its full-year target of 830,000 b/d, a senior government official said in early April. It steadily increased output over the three months, pumping 819,000 b/d in January, 840,000 b/d in February and 847,000 b/d in March, he added.
On Thursday the minister said one contributer to the increase had been the ExxonMobil-operated Cepu oil and gas block, which is currently producing 165,000 b/d, slightly below the 185,000 b/d peak production estimate for the block. Some Indonesian officials have said Cepu could reach 200,000 b/d.
The block straddles the border between Central Java and East Java and is estimated to contain about 600 million barrels of oil. Banyu Urip, the block's major oil discovery, is estimated to hold more than 250 million barrels of oil. ExxonMobil and Indonesia's state-owned Pertamina each hold 45% stakes, with local governments holding the remainder.
The government is expected to offer 15 oil and gas blocks soon, including one unconventional block, in its first licensing round of the year, Djoko Siswanto, upstream business director at the energy and mines ministry, said last week.
The blocks comprise 14 conventional oil and gas blocks and one shale gas block, Siswanto said in the closing ceremony of the 40th IPA exhibition in Jakarta. A date for the round was not confirmed.
