Indonesia reports increase in oil, gas reserves

The Indonesian government claimed Thursday the proven oil reserves rose to 8.93 billion barrels in 2006 from 8.63 billion barrels last year, and gas reserves rose 187.1 trillion cubic feet (5.29 trillion cubic meters) from 185.8 trillion cubic feet (5.26 trillion cubic meters).

National oil productions stand at 1.01 million barrels per day or below the official target of 1.05 million barrels, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said Thursday in his annual report.

Investments in the energy sector rose 24 percent to 15.8 billion U.S. dollars this year against 11.97 billion dollars last year, he said.

The figure does not include investment commitment from China worth 3.2 billion dollars signed in Shanghai in October and that of Japan worth 1.3 billion dollars signed in Tokyo last month, he said.

The bulk of the investment went to the oil and gas industries, totaling 9.7 billion dollars, he said.

Source: Xinhua