Today, Wednesday (31/7), the Chancellor of the University of Indonesia, Prof. Dr. Muhammad Anis, M. Met., inaugurated Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Abdul Haris, Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Indonesia, as a permanent professor in the field of geophysics.
In the ceremony held at the UI Depok Campus Assembly Hall, Prof. Haris delivered a speech entitled “Tantangan Ahli Eksplorasi Seismik dalam Pencarian Sumber Migas : Paradigma Baru dalam Eksplorasi Migas”. Through this theme, Prof. Haris discussed the important role of seismic-based oil and gas exploration.
He chose this theme because he remembered choosing to major in geophysics in 1990 after two years of studying in the Physics Department, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Indonesia. At the time, several friends and even his academic advisor asked him why he chose that major, considering that oil and gas would run out in the next 10 years, meaning that geophysics offered no future prospects.
However, it turns out that Indonesia is still producing oil and gas, almost 30 years later. Therefore, Prof. Haris continued, the assumption that the reserves will run out in the next 10 years is not entirely accurate.
“This memory is still embedded in my mind to this day, but our country has had oil and gas for almost 30 years, so it will run out in the next 10 years. That’s not true,” said the Pemalang-born man.
. Because, in fact, the oil and gas that has been exploited so far has only reached 30% (30% recovery factor) of existing reserves, so there is still a lot that has not been tapped.
. Therefore, oil and gas exploration desperately needs fresh and innovative ideas to maintain and even increase oil and gas production through a new paradigm that not only involves exploration in new fields but also challenges geophysicists to explore old, abandoned fields.
“So the correct statement is that it’s not that oil and gas are running out, but that we often run out of ideas,” he concluded.
With the inauguration of Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Abdul Haris, FMIPA UI now has a total of 13 permanent professors, 6 of whom are permanent professors in Physics.
