Heaptalk, Jakarta — The upstream oil and gas industry faces many challenges. In addition to meeting increasing energy needs, business actors are also asked to reduce carbon emissions from production operations.
President Director of Pertamina Nicke Widyawati explained that Pertamina is mandated to meet energy needs as a state-owned company. The company budgeted over 62% of capital expenditure (capex) for several programs to meet energy needs.
“We want to increase production, with the current conditions but it takes time, but you still try by budgeting 62% capex to be able to meet energy needs. 15% for low carbon business we support the government’s target, we have a large allocation for CCS, bioenergy,” said Nicke during a discussion on the plenary session of the CEO Forum with the theme Company Strategy Pursuing High Return of Investment and Helping Society Meet NZE at IPA Convex 2024 at ICE BSD, Tangerang, Tuesday (05/14).
However, according to Nicke, Pertamina is also required to generate profits as a business entity. The encouragement to contribute to efforts to achieve the target of pursuing net zero emissions (NZE) must also not be forgotten. One of Pertamina’s steps, said Nicke, to pursue increasing production while reducing carbon emissions is to initiate the application of CCS/CCUS technology.
“We also prioritize CCS/CCUS, with potential storage of 16 ongoing CCS/CCUS projects, 11 of which are being worked on by Pertamina. We are targeting CO2 injection in the CCS block with a volume of 7,000 tonnes by 2030,” said Nicke.
Tan Sri Tengku Muhammad Taufik, President and Group CEO of Petronas, explained that Petronas is also the challenges. The best way to deal with these issues is to collaborate. For this reason, Petronas has initiated collaborations and partnerships in 20 countries, including Indonesia. The need for collaboration is increasingly greater with the projected large investment requirements in efforts to carry out the energy transition.
“The energy transition requires huge capital of around US$ 2 trillion. We have to collaborate. The time for competition is over. No company or country can do this alone. There must be collaboration,” said Taufik.
Roberto Lorato, CEO of MedcoEnergi, acknowledged that energy companies, especially those in the upstream oil and gas sector, face high complexity. Moreover, there is a mandate to implement the energy transition and decarbonization. For this reason, a commitment to implementing ESG in the company is vital.
Medco will continue its program by focusing on the energy transition, decarbonizing operations through expansion of the gas business, and new renewable energy projects, such as geothermal and solar power plant projects. “The complexity is indeed high. The energy transition is fundamental and must be pursued, but it requires large funds and technology. We will ensure everything with an ESG commitment,” Roberto concluded.
