Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Indonesia, the second-smallest member of OPEC, plans to drill 200 exploration wells by 2009 to find new oil and gas areas and replace aging fields, a government official said.

The country aims to discover 3.8 billion barrels in oil reserves and 17 trillion cubic feet in gas reserves, Trijana Kartoatmodjo, deputy chairman of oil and gas regulator BPMigas, said today in West Java, Indonesia.

``Exploration is vital as we will run out of energy, particularly oil and gas'' without such activities, he said.

A lack of investments has cut output in Indonesia, currently the biggest oil and gas producer in Southeast Asia. Indonesia will produce an average of 1.03 million barrels a day of crude and condensate this year, down from 1.05 million barrels a day last year, Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Sept. 21.

The country produced 862,184 barrels of crude a day last month, an increase from 854,053 barrels a day in October, according to data from BPMigas.

Condensate output fell 1.1 percent to 124,273 barrels a day in November. Condensate is a light crude oil produced in association with natural gas.

Qatar is the smallest producer within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

To contact the reporter on this story: Leony Aurora in Jakarta laurora@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 15, 2006 01:27 EST