The company will use a new drilling technique to increase its extraction rate to tap 800 million barrels of oil that is currently inaccessible, Eddy Purwanto, deputy of operations at Indonesian oil and gas regulator BPMigas, said in Jakarta today.
A $170 million pilot project is being conducted until 2011 to test the new technology that uses chemical injection to produce oil, Purwanto said.
If the project is a success the company will “continue on a larger scale,” he said.
Chevron is turning to new drilling techniques to halt a drop in production. The Southeast Asia nation imports about one- third of its oil products amid a lack of investment in new reserves and limited refinery capacity.
Chevron’s Sumatra concessions including the Duri and Minas areas may produce an average 405,000 barrels of oil a day this year, lower than the 408,000 barrel-a-day target set by the government or 425,000 barrels a day last year, Suwito Anggoro, president director of Chevron’s Indonesian unit, said Sept. 8.
Anggoro couldn’t be reached for comments on his mobile phone.