REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BALIKPAPAN -- The National Exploration Committee (KEN) has announced that Indonesian oil and gas reserves now have a potential addition, amounting to about 2.7 billion barrels of oil and 14 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Fourteen trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas is equivalent to 5.2 billion barrels of oil.

"These amounts were identified from 108 structures where discovery of proven oil and gas wells has been made, but these have not been upgraded as national reserves," Chairman of KEN, Andang Bachtiar, said here on Tuesday.

Regions where oil and gas have been discovered are scattered throughout Indonesia, including 1.3 TCF of gas discovered in Kasuari Block in Papua.

Also, the fields of Asap, Api, and Merah from Bambu Besar Field, managed by Pertamina EP in Subang, West Java province, contain 40-50 million barrels of oil. Similar discoveries have also been made in West Natuna Block, currently managed by Conoco-Philips.

There are also prospective reserves of 16.6 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

According to Andang, the presence of oil and gas can be determined from rocks and soil structures through test drilling. "There are 120 structures that support the claim of 16.6 billion barrels," he noted.

"Even if 20 percent of it can be proven, we will have at least 2 billion barrels," Andang said.

The National Exploration Committee was established on June 12, 2015, with the mission to increase oil and gas reserves or the reserve replacement ratio (RRR) by more than 75 percent within a span of five years.

KEN also serves to discover new oil and gas reserves and accelerate the discovery of oil and gas reserves from originally between 6-10 years to 3-5 years before these oil and gas blocks are handed over by the government to the contractors.

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