91-km gas pipeline dedicated

PALEMBANG, South Sumatra (JP): State-owned oil company Pertamina's president Faisal Abda'oe inaugurated a gas transmission project yesterday between Lembak and Palembang in South Sumatra worth Rp 71 billion (US$31.9 million).

"This 91-kilometer pipeline was financed out of Pertamina's own funds," Abda'oe told reporters after the inauguration ceremony.

Abda'oe said that the new pipeline has a transmission capacity of 320 million standard cubic feet (SCFD) of gas a day of which 150 million SCFD will go to the state-owned fertilizer company PT Pusri in Palembang and the remainder to a nearby power station and the Plaju oil refinery.

He said that the new pipeline replaces one which had a capacity of only 220 million SCFD.

He said that the old pipeline had to be replaced in the interests of public safety because it ran through downtown Palembang, the capital city of South Sumatra.

Meanwhile, Abda'oe said in reply to reporters' questions that Pertamina would sign a new contract with Taiwan for the sale of 1.9 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year later this month.

"Pertamina will supply the additional demand from the eighth train of the Pertamina LNG plant in Bontang, East Kalimantan," he said.

He said that Train-H, which will be built in 1997 with a processing capacity of 2.9 million tons per year, will also supply one million tons to South Korea. (04)