Indonesia May Become an Oil Importer as Output Slides

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Indonesia May Become an Oil Importer as Output Slides

April 14 (Bloomberg) -- Indonesia, Southeast Asia's only OPEC member, may become a net oil importer this year as projects led by ConocoPhillips, Unocal Corp. and PetroChina Co. fail to stem falling output, helping to boost fuel prices to records. The country may turn to importing a net 61,000 barrels a day this year from net exports of 27,000 barrels a day in 2004, based on figures in a document prepared for the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry and obtained by Bloomberg News.

Indonesia is draining oil from global markets at a time when China's soaring demand helped to push prices to a record $58.28 a barrel on April 4. To revive exports, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono must resolve contract disputes that have curbed spending by companies including Exxon Mobil Corp.

``Without new investments, Indonesia will this year probably end up as a net importer of oil,'' Wahyudin Yudiana Ardiwinata, 55, chief executive of ChevronTexaco Corp.'s local unit, PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia, said in an interview yesterday in Jakarta. Caltex pumps half of Indonesia's oil.

Indonesia has failed since early 2002 to meet its output quota, currently at 1.425 million barrels a day, from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. An end to Indonesia's status as an oil exporter would threaten its membership of the group, led last year by Indonesia's Oil Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=a65kl2ceDYko&refer=top_world_news