Former OPEC Member's Byzantine Rules Shooing Away Explorers
- Only 20% onshore rigs in Indonesia operating vs 60% in 2012
- Nation may not see major oil, gas investment: Drilling group
Workers ride bicycles past oil and gas processing infrastructure at the Exxon Mobil Corp. Banyu Urip Central Processing Facility in the Cepu block of Bojonegoro, East Java, Indonesia, on Dec. 8, 2016.
Photographer: Dimas Ardian/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Red tape, rising costs and declining crude prices are throttling exploration in Indonesia, the former OPEC member that now produces less oil than it uses.
Only 20 percent of the 287 onshore rigs operated by contractors for local and foreign explorers are at work, compared with 60 percent in 2012, according to Wargono Soenarko, chairman of the Indonesian Oil, Gas and Geothermal Drilling Contractors. Four out of six offshore rigs are operational, he said in an interview.