Indonesia's oil output declines  

UPI has a report on Indonesia's declining oil production - Indonesia's oil output declines.

Indonesia's BPMigas oil and gas regulator says that national fields are in decline.

Apparently confirming that Indonesia's oil production has hit a decline as predicted by "peak oil" proponents, BPMigas spokesman Gde Pradnyana said Indonesia will have to reduce its dependency on oil.

He said the country will take steps to shift to natural gas from oil.

"We're currently just trying to maintain the current oil production so that it will not drop sharply," Gde told The Jakarta Post.

"The discovery of oil fields in the next five to seven years will be difficult, especially those that can produce as much as the Cepu Block. The future projects will be mostly gas operations."

Gde, however, said he remains upbeat however about the country's long-term prospects.

He told the Post that Indonesia has 10 oil and gas projects with a total investment of $4.7 billion, expected to come on-stream through 2014.

"This reflects that the future of Indonesia's oil and gas industry will be dominated by gas," Gde said.

The projects are expected to produce 1.75 million cubic feet of gas per day, 20,000 barrels of oil per day and 26,000 barrels per day of oil condensate, Gde said.

Indonesia, formerly a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, has been struggling with both declining oil output from aging oilfields, some of which date to the late 19th century, and rising demand for natural gas, which is limiting its gas export potential.