On Tuesday, July 10, 2012 at The Nusantara Ballroom, The Dharmawangsa Hotel, The Directorate General of Oil and Gas together with the IPA organized an exploration forum with the following objectives:

• To communicate the results of the IHS analysis of Regional Exploration trends (2001 to 2010) commissioned by the IPA in 2011 as an independent, objective third party assessment of trends and insights relating to Regional and Indonesian oil and gas exploration.
• To articulate and assess the implications of the above trends in relation to the role of exploration in meeting national oil and gas production targets.
• For Government and IPA to jointly brainstorm and discuss issues and recommend actions to increase exploration investment in Indonesia.
  

This event was attended by 40 participants comprising representatives of IPA Company Members, the Directorate General of Oil and Gas, BPMIGAS, Fiscal Policy Body (BKF) of the Ministry of Finance and the Geology Body of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. It was intentionally planned as a small group discussion in order to have a fruitful and mutually beneficial discussion.

The Forum was opened by a welcoming address from Elisabeth Proust, IPA President who emphasized that one of the roles of the IPA is to offer opportunities to exchange views between members and government institutions on the major issues and challenges of the industry and that this occasion was dedicated to the subject of Exploration.

She highlighted that "Exploration is the Future of the Industry" but also one of the key contributors to the Welfare of Indonesia's next generation. Exploration in Indonesia is a technical challenge - as resources are becoming more difficult to find, being located in deep offshore and remote locations. Exploration is also an economic challenge as the companies are taking the risk of exploration by self-financing and investing huge amount of money in an attempt to discover the resources and generate an opportunity to produce a profitable investment. In addition, to perform exploration in these frontier areas, companies need high levels of financial and technical capability.

The keynote address was then delivered by Haposan Napitupulu, BPMIGAS Deputy Chairman of Planning with the title of the presentation : "Accelerating Exploration Investment." Pak Haposan explained about the internal and external challenges in boosting the exploration activities in Indonesia. The keynote address was then followed by a presentation from Yunus Kusumabrata, Secretary to the Head of Geological Body, Energy and Mineral Resources titled : " Roadmap for Exploration" and then a Presentation titled "To boost Exploration activity in Indonesia" was delivered by Ranjit Pannu from Schlumberger Western Geco. The first chapter of discussion was closed by a presentation from Jeffrey J. Lobao, an exploration consultant who delivered a case study on "Norway: Incentivising Exploration & Reserves Growth."

After the coffee break, Evita Legowo, Director General of Oil and Gas conveyed the ministry message on promoting exploration investment. In her presentation, she highlighted the government efforts to improve exploration in order to discover new oil reserves such as :

1. Increase the number of working areas offered and exploration activities.
2. Accelerate the development of new fields including the development of idle discoveries.
3. Improve development of unconventional hydrocarbons.
4. Improve coordination with relevant agencies to resolve issues related to regulations, licensing, security and land overlapping.
5. Willingness from the government to give special incentives for increasing exploration investment (fiscal and non fiscal).
   

Chris Newton then showed a review of activity, results and investment trends of Indonesian upstream performance from 2001-2010 based on IHS Study commissioned by the IPA.

John Bates from the IPA delivered a presentation on the role of exploration in meeting Indonesia's future oil and gas needs.

The session concluded with a Brainstorming session and capturing of ideas while the IPA conveyed to the concerned government institutions the key issues and recommendations affecting exploration investment in Indonesia that had been gathered from the IPA Company Members. It is envisaged that follow-up meetings will be convened for further discussion and drafting of proposals on key issues.

Please click here 1, 2 to access IPA presentation