OREANDA-NEWS. October 17, 2012. PT Pertamina (Persero) expect to increase its production by 32,000 barrel per day (bph) from acquisition of the oil and gas blocks in Indonesia and overseas throughout 2012. The Government has predicted continuing growth of national economy, which continue to receive praise internationally. The steep economic growth will increase national energy demand propositionally, reported the press-centre of Pertamina.

Meanwhile, national oil reserve has been dropping, so new breakthroughs are essential to maintain national energy security to support sustainable national development. As such, Pertamina as a state-owned company is committed to increase its oil and gas production to 2.2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2025.

One of the strategic steps employed is to acquire oil and gas blocks, particularly the producing fields, be it domestic fields or overseas fields. Pertamina targets to acquire around four oil and gas areas by the end of this year, which will potentially increase the production by 32,000 bph.

"The additional production, in short term, will significantly help the Government in maintaining national energy security. Right now Pertamina has been and will continue to negotiate with our partners to achieve the targets, which we expect to be realized by the end of the year," Pertamina President Director Karen Agustiawan said.

Pertamina prioritizes the acquisition of producing areas so that the production can be readily used to fulfill national energy demand. With the price of crude oil float at the high range, there are not many opportunities to acquisition.

"As such, we appreciate our partners who are willing to sit down with Pertamina to discuss partnership framework for win-win future condition. The support of Government from Government-to-Government talks is very important, considering Pertamina's position as National Oil Company," she said.

Petrodelta Acquisition
Meanwhile, regarding acquisition process of Petrodelta S.A., a subsidiary of Harvest Natural Resources Inc. ("HNR"), Karen Agustiawan said that Pertamina is in the process of gaining stakeholders agreement to the transaction. Pertamina is optimistic that the approval process will be completed according to the schedule decided in the agreement.

"Media reports that say the transaction depended on elements outside of the written agreement is a speculative thing. Pertamina continues to commit to realize the transaction and in line with company policy as a business entity, will not comment on any speculation regarding the transaction," she said.

As informed before, Pertamina has signed the Share Purchase Agreement ("SPA") with Harvest to acquire the 32% effective ownership shares of Petrodelta, S.A., in Venezuela. Pertamina and partners have until the end of March 2013 to fulfill all the clauses in the agreement, such as the approval of Pertamina shareholders, Harvest shareholders, and Venezuelan government.

Petrodelta field contain proven and probable reserve of approximately 486 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe). The hydrocarbon content of the reserve is higher than Cepu Block reserve's, which is the biggest new finding in Indonesia for the past decade.