Energy majors to reduce output in Indonesia in 2016 -regulator

By Wilda Asmarini

JAKARTA, June 11 (Reuters) - Global energy (Other OTC: GEYI - news) companies are

expected to continue to reduce oil and gas production in

Indonesia in 2016, the country's upstream energy regulator

(SKKMigas) said on Thursday, as Southeast Asia's largest economy

increasingly turns to imports to feed escalating fuel demand.

Indonesia was once self-sufficient in oil and gas but has

struggled for years to attract investment to halt declining

output - difficulties that have been exacerbated by the current

low oil price environment that has led several firms to

relinquish exploration assets.

Gasoline demand from Indonesia, one of the world's biggest

importers of refined products, is expected to increase 38

percent to 6.6 million barrels in the third quarter from a year

earlier.

"Generally, we can see production is declining," SKKMigas

deputy chairman Zikrullah told parliament referring to output of

crude oil and gas from several major firms, noting some

exceptions. Output from the Cepu block operated by ExxonMobil

may increase up to 41 percent to 165,000 bpd in 2016, he

said.

Last month Exxon said it was targeting peak output at Cepu

later this year of more than 200,000 bpd.

Output from Indonesia's top crude producer Chevron

has fallen 24 percent in the past 5 years, Zikrullah said.

Domestic energy production is an important source of

government revenue, but is expected to drop by at least a third

this year as a fall in production costs has failed to keep pace

with a 40 percent drop in oil prices and threatens to

limit future output.

The government is targeting 2015 oil output of 825,000

barrels per day.

SKKMigas said in December it expects spending in the

upstream sector to reach $22.2 billion in 2015, down from a 2014

target of $25.64 billion.

Tables below show SKKMigas oil and gas lifting targets for

several of the biggest energy firms in Indonesia in 2015 and

2016.

Gas (mmscfd)

2015 2016e

------ ------

BP 1012 900-982

Total 1420 1,198-1,307

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP - news) 1170 1051-1146

Oil (mbopd)

2015 2016e

------ ------

BP

Total 65.7 55.7-57.1

ConocoPhillips 28.9 23.4-24

Chevron 295 265.5-276.9

ExxonMobil 116.9 161.1-165

^ Company estimate

Note (Stockholm: NOTE.ST - news) : Data shown is amalgamated where companies have more

than one Indonesian unit in production.

(Writing by Fergus Jensen, editing by David Evans)