REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, CIREBON -- Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Minister Sudirman Said denied having banged the table during a working meeting with Commission VII, which oversees energy-related affairs, of the House of Representatives (DPR) on Thursday.

"He was being firm but did not bang the table, as has been reported. There was no such incident," Head of the Public Communications Center of the ESDM Ministry Dadan Kusdiana said on the sidelines of promotional activities on renewable energy here on Saturday.

During the meeting with Commission VII of the DPR, the minister was merely firm, he stated, adding that there was nothing wrong with correcting the oil lifting figure.

What happened was that it was not yet the time to reveal the real figure of the amount of oil lifted.

Kusdiana pointed out that Minister Said was in the process of explaining an expos? on oil lifting but was interrupted by a number of lawmakers.

"It is clear that the minister was only stressing that the oil and natural gas industry was under control and being supervised. Finding differences in the data of oil and gas regulator SKK Migas and oil contractors (KKKS) does not mean that the upstream oil and gas system is badly managed," he remarked.

Kusdiana also explained that the ESDM minister was responsible for the management of the energy sector, including the development of SKK Migas and KKKS.

Minister Said had announced on Tuesday that the government had set an oil lifting target of 850 barrels per day (bpd) in the state budget for next year.

"The target for natural gas lifting for 2016 is some 1,100 to 1,200 thousand per day," he noted during the working meeting with Commission VII.

As compared to the oil and gas lifting targets in the 2015 revised state budget---825 bpd and 1,221, respectively---the targets in 2016 were only marginally changed.

From December 2014 till May 2015, oil lifting realization reached 752 bpd and gas lifting, 1,168 per day.

According to Head of SKK Migas Amien Sunaryadi, a relatively low target was set because oil and gas wells experience natural degradation.

However, he is optimistic that the target for 2016 is achievable.

During the meeting with Commission VII of the DPR, the Indonesian Crude Price, which was set at US$60 to US$70 per barrel, was also discussed and approved by the commission.

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