Indonesia’s average crude oil price declines in March | The Jakarta Post
(The Insider Stories) — Indonesia’s average crude oil price declined to US$107.42 per barrel as of March this year, down by 7% from $114.86 per barrel in February. The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry announced on Tuesday that the price of Sumatra Light Crude (SLC), produced at the Minas field in Riau, Sumatra, had also declined in March to $110.33 per barrel, down 7% from a month earlier.
The Minas field, which is operated by US-based Chevron Pacific Indonesia, is the country’s largest oil block by output with production equaling around 20 to 25 percent of Indonesia’s entire crude output. Earlier this year, Indonesia, which resigned from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 2008 after becoming a net oil importer, aims to reap $29.5 billion from the hydrocarbon sector this year, which would be a drop of 18 percent from the $36 billion booked in 2012, amid waning output and aging fields.
Last year’s higher-than-expected sales prices boosted state revenue from oil to $36 billion, 8 percent higher than targeted. This year, the government’s assumed Indonesian Crude Price (ICP) in the 2013 state budget is at around $100 per barrel with an ambitious oil output target of 900,000 barrels per day (bpd).
The energy ministry noted factors affecting the world’s oil prices have also influenced the ICP, such as the financial crisis in Cyprus, slow US economic recovery, plus a recent statement from the world’s top oil producer, Saudi Arabia, that $100 per barrel was a “reasonable” crude oil price.
