Indonesia's Ailing Oil Sector Needs Urgent Overhaul

Indonesia's Ailing Oil Sector Needs Urgent Overhaul

Indonesia's oil industry is languishing, it's fields are depleting and it
desperately needs investment, but unlike another up-and-coming oil
major-Argentina-it's not willing to do what is necessary to lure in big
foreign money.

Indonesia's oil industry contributed just 3 percent of GDP last year, from
almost 15 percent in 2014 and as much as a quarter back in 2006. The decline
in production has been steady since the 1990s, thanks to a sharp drawdown on
exploration and new investment-despite the fact that the county's energy
needs have been growing steadily. Now, Jakarta is trying to turn things
around.

Indonesia is currently producing around 800,000 barrels of crude daily,
which constitutes half of what it consumes every day. This compares to a
little over a million bpd in 2010. The local fields are mature, well on
their way to depletion, and the state energy major, Pertamina, has set its
sights on international expansion to compensate for decline.

Since 2014, the company has grown its overseas production capacity to
150,000 barrels of oil equivalent daily through acquisitions and
partnerships. The latest acquisition, of French energy company Maurel &
Prom, added 30,000 bpd to its capacity. To date, the company has exposure to
nine oil-producing countries, including Algeria, Iraq, Tanzania, and
Nigeria--and it's negotiating the acquisition of two oilfields in Russia.

Meanwhile, the government is trying hard to attract investors for untapped
oil and gas reserves.

In April, the Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Johan announced
a US$200-billion foreign investment plan, offering oil companies the change
to bid for 14 untapped oil and gas deposits.

To sweeten the deal, Jakarta said it would introduce incentives such as the
tax-free import of oilfield equipment, easier cost recovery, plus a revised
tax regime. However, according to analysts quoted by Bloomberg, investors
still view Asia's fastest-growing economy as a difficult place to invest in
because of bureaucracy.

Indeed, there have been few takers of the 14 new oil and gas deposits.

In July, the country's energy sector regulator, SKK Migas, said it was in
talks with some interested parties, but no final deals were sealed. Why? The
very overhaul that was supposed to lure in more investors backfired,
according to the FT. The overhaul involved a revision of contracts,
envisaging an end to a system that saw the government reimburse explorers
for all their costs. The new "gross split" regime seeks to ensure a fairer
return for Indonesia, Johan explained at the time, after years of misuse of
the old cost-recovery system.

Another potentially major oil producer, Argentina, is offering foreign
energy firms above-market prices for the gas they extract from its huge Vaca
Muerta field as well as tax incentives to motivate them to come and explore.
Indonesia seems less inclined to adopt the "whatever it takes" approach.

Pertamina is growing abroad, and it is also expanding its local downstream
operations in partnership with Aramco and Rosneft.

According to Johan, Indonesian oil production should hit 1 million barrels
by 2019. Whether this happens or not, at the pace its economy is growing, 5
percent annually, Indonesia will remain a net importer of crude for the
foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, by the way, Indonesia is not shunning renewable energy. Far from
it - the country plans to derive 23 percent of its energy from renewable
source by 2025 and 31 percent by 2050, according to the International
Renewable Energy Agency. These targets, however, would require annual
investments of US$15 billion annually until 2030. According to IRENA, the
benefits from renewable energy adoption would outweigh the costs.

Still, with energy consumption growing at the fastest rate in ASEAN,
Indonesia will likely continue to be dependent on fossil fuels for quite a
while, which increases the urgency of attracting new investments.

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Link to Original Article:
http://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Indonesias-Ailing-Oil-Sector-Needs-Urge
nt-Overhaul.html

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com