The Darwin LNG plant is almost three-quarters completed, and the facility and export wharf can clearly be seen from Darwin's beachfront esplanade and hotel precincts. Martin said by the time SEAAOC (South East Asian Australian Offshore Conference) was held next year the plant would be completed.

Purnomo outlined the state of the Indonesian energy sector, from its declining oil production rates to the development of the Indonesian gas pipeline grid. Shortly after speaking, Purnomo left on an evening flight to Jakarta to open the regional ASEAN conference this morning.

He said there was 18 years of oil left in Indonesia at the current production levels of 500 million barrels of oil per annum. Field optimisaton was high on the agenda of initiatives Petramina was developing, aimed at trying to arrest the rate of production decline.

“New fields like Jeruk, West Seno and Cebu will assist in sustaining Indonesian oil production levels,” he said.

He said the Santos-operated Jeruk field would have a production rate of at least 50,000 bbl day. He told EnergyReview.net that with only two wells drilled on the field that was a base figure.

"It is a pessimistic figure with plenty of upside. There is only two wells compared to Cebu [operated by ExxonMobil] which has hundreds of wells on the field.”

Purnomo also gave a brief outline of the development of the Indonesian gas pipeline grid. This long-held infrastructure vision aims to connect the myriad of islands in the Indonesian archipelago with a network of pipelines aiming at providing the nation with gas, and wean itself from its dependency on oil.

He said Indonesia had a current gas life of 61 years hence its intent on developing its gas industry. There was 54 trillion cubic feet of gas in the East Natuna gas field but it had very high CO2 levels, according to Purnomo.

Indonesia was also releasing 70 offshore exploration blocks, in an effort to spur exploration and halt its declining hydrocarbon production, the minister said.