PT Pertamina Hulu Energi (PHE), the upstream oil and gas arm of Indonesia's state-owned Pertamina, is working to drill about 1,000 wells a year as it tries to meet a government mandate to grow the country's oil and gas production and cover its rising energy needs. The company is running roughly 70 drilling rigs and 150 well intervention rigs across 50 fields to hit that pace.
Existing fields and new resources
Fata Yunus, PHE's Vice President of Drilling & Well Intervention, said the company is working on two fronts at once: getting more output from fields already in production by bringing in new technologies, and exploring for resources it does not yet have. Yunus described the goal as meeting Indonesia's growing energy needs under the government's production mandate.
Digital tools as a priority
Speaking with Drilling Contractor at the 2026 SPE/IADC Asia Pacific Drilling Technology Conference in Bali, Indonesia, on 6 August, Yunus pointed to advanced digital and automation technologies as a priority for PHE. He said any new technology has to prove it adds value, and earn trust from the people using it, before the company will put it to work at scale.
