RI needs more LNG terminals: Official

Rangga D. Fadillah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Business | Tue, 06/19/2012 11:40 AM

To anticipate growing demand for natural gas, the newly appointed Energy and Mineral Resources Deputy Minister Rudi Rubiandini, said all planned floating storage and re-gasification (FSRU) projects had to be implemented.

“The FSRUs and liquefied natural gas [LNG] terminals have to be built and integrated with existing and planned pipeline networks. They are very important for our energy security in the future,” Rudi said at his office in Jakarta on Monday.

The gas supply for the FSRUs could come from domestic sources or imports which, according to Rudi, should not be dichotomized because in the future, providing energy for people had to be guaranteed at all costs. “To back up our economic and welfare growth, we need to provide energy. For that reason, we shouldn’t just hope for cheap prices as long as our energy security can be maintained,” he argued.

Currently, Indonesia has an FSRU off West Java which is operated by PT Nusantara Regas, jointly owned by state oil and gas firm, PT Pertamina, and state gas distributor, PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN).

The floating receiving terminal has a total capacity of storing and regasifying 3 million tons per annum (mtpa) of LNG. The FSRU receives 1.06 mtpa of supply from the Bontang LNG plant in East Kalimantan.

In addition, Pertamina also plans to convert the Arun LNG plant in Aceh into a receiving terminal. The terminal will be expected to supply gas for industries and power plants in Aceh and North Sumatra.

Prior to that plan, PGN had also proposed to build a FSRU in Belawan, North Sumatra, but due to the Arun conversion plan, the government decided to relocate the Belawan FSRU to Lampung.

The relocation has put Pertamina’s plan to set up another FSRU in Central Java in limbo, since all gas demand can be fulfilled directly through pipelines from gas blocks in the province or be channeled from the Lampung FSRU through the South Sumatra-West Java and Trans-Java pipeline networks.

Rudi revealed that Indonesia had sufficient gas production to cover the operations of all planned FSRUs and receiving terminals. Most of the LNG had in fact been contracted for foreign buyers, but in several years’ time, the contracts would expire and the LNG could be diverted to the domestic market, he added.

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