Addin Anugrah Siwi, Jakarta – Indonesia is sitting on a vast reserve of untapped oil and gas resources, with only a fraction of its 128 sedimentary basins currently being explored and developed, according to the Geological Agency.
Speaking at the 2025 Energy and Mineral Festival in Jakarta on Wednesday, Indra Nurdiana, a senior official at the Geological Agency, revealed that just about 20 basins are actively producing, while the remainders are largely untouched due to a lack of subsurface geological data.
"We have dozens of unexplored basins. What we primarily need is data. Without it, we cannot accurately assess their potential," Indra said during a discussion session at B-Universe Media Holdings' Energi Mineral Festival held at Hutan Kota by Plataran in Senayan.
The agency, under the Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Ministry, is working to accelerate data collection and is preparing 60 new oil and gas working areas for auction between 2025 and 2026. Indra said that government institutions are now working more closely than ever to overcome bureaucratic barriers and synchronize data for better decision-making.
"We at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry – including the Geological Agency, SKK Migas, the Directorate General of Oil and Gas, and the Information and Data Center – are breaking down barriers between us," he said.
Indra emphasized the urgency of expanding exploration into frontier areas, even if those regions are still far from commercial production. Early mapping and promotion, he said, are essential for long-term energy security.
"If we don't start moving now, when will we ever get there?" he added.
Sedimentary basins – regions of sediment-rich rock formations – are crucial for oil and gas development as they often contain accumulations of hydrocarbons trapped over millions of years. Detailed data on their structure and composition greatly enhances the chances of converting them into productive energy assets.
The government is aiming for domestic oil production to reach 1 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2030, despite a steady decline in output over recent years. Indonesia's oil lifting reached 578,000 barrels per day in the first half of 2025, which is about 95.5 percent of this year's target of 605,000 barrels per day