Pertamina Hulu Rokan wins at Asian Management Excellence Awards 2026 for executive and team-led transformation

The company delivered measurable improvements in production, safety, and operational efficiency through leadership-led transformation and structured digital adoption.

Pertamina Hulu Rokan received recognition at the Asian Management Excellence Awards 2026, securing the Indonesia Executive of the Year - Oil & Gas and Indonesia Team of the Year - Oil & Gas categories. The awards acknowledged executive leadership and coordinated team execution that stabilised production in Indonesia’s most strategic onshore oil block whilst strengthening safety performance, digital capability, and operational efficiency across complex mature-field operations.

Operational direction amidst mature-field decline

Ruby Mulyawan, in his capacity as President Director, oversaw operations during a period shaped by natural decline across mature reservoirs in the Rokan Block. After the operatorship transition in 2021, production remained above 160,000 barrels of oil per day, despite forecasts pointing to a steeper decline. This outcome followed the expansion of drilling programmes, wider application of enhanced oil recovery methods, and tighter control over field execution. Annual activity levels included more than 500 new wells and over 20,000 well-work interventions, maintaining output whilst improving asset utilisation.

Recovery optimisation formed a separate operational priority. Major producing areas such as the Duri and Minas Fields continued to rely on steamflood and waterflood techniques, which remained integral to base production. Chemical-enhanced oil recovery was added to the portfolio to address declining recovery factors. Alongside these measures, unconventional oil and gas development advanced through three-dimensional seismic interpretation and the deployment of multi-stage fracture horizontal wells, extending technical capability within Indonesia’s upstream sector.

Analytics and decision-support platforms

Digital capability became part of routine operational work rather than a parallel layer. Safety and technical training using virtual reality was completed within 28 days, reducing preparation time for lifting and drilling activities that carried elevated risk. Artificial intelligence applied to CCTV footage enabled continuous monitoring of safety compliance. Separately, predictive models used for pump performance reached accuracy levels above 95%, allowing potential failures to be identified up to 14 days earlier than traditional monitoring methods.

Coordination of these initiatives sat within the Digital Innovation Center. Data from operations, analytics outputs, and machine learning models were brought together in a single environment accessed by multiple functions. Drilling-to-production cycles shortened materially, falling from up to 30 days to 15 days across light and heavy oil wells. Predictive maintenance use cases delivered annual benefits of up to IDR120b, with reductions in downtime accounting for most of the impact.

Operational changes were visible in the financial results. Net income increased from USD645.44m in 2021 to USD3.05b in 2024. Production volumes over the same period reached approximately 160 MBOEPD. Output from the Rokan Working Area represented about 27% of Indonesia’s national oil supply, confirming its role as a significant contributor to domestic production.

The Asian Management Excellence Awards celebrates the finest business leaders, innovators, and companies in Asia. This prestigious awards programme recognises exceptional achievements in various domains, including employee engagement programmes, diversity and inclusion projects, and health and wellness initiatives.

The Asian Management Excellence Awards is presented by Asian Business Review Magazine. To view the full list of winners, click here. If you want to join the 2027 awards programme and be acclaimed for your company's employee engagements and management initiatives, please contact Danica Avila at [email protected].