Arun in operation again by end of July: Pertamina
Arun in operation again by end of July: Pertamina
JAKARTA (JP): State oil and gas company Pertamina said on
Monday it expected natural gas output from the Arun gas fields in
Aceh to resume output at 25 percent of normal levels within two
weeks, expecting to recover to full capacity by the end of July.
"I am optimistic that within two weeks we can resume initial
gas production to at least one quarter of maximum capacity,"
Pertamina President Baihaki Hakim was quoted as saying by Reuters
while attending an oil conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
"And then we need one month before full production," he added,
"so we are talking about the end of July."
Meanwhile, Pertamina management production sharing director
Iin Arifin Takhyan said American oil and gas company ExxonMobil
Oil Indonesia Inc. would dispatch a team to Arun this week.
The team, he said, would assess Arun's condition before
setting a date for the resumption of normal operations.
"They told us that security conditions were now acceptable,"
he said on the sidelines of a hearing with the House of
Representatives' Commission VIII which oversees energy affairs.
Iin also confirmed that ExxonMobil had agreed to resume full
operations.
ExxonMobil officials were not available for comment.
The company has suspended operations in Arun since mid-March
due to security disturbances from armed groups, believed to be
local rebel forces.
Its shutdown caused the nearby Arun liquefied natural gas
(LNG) plant to also halt production, threatening the country's
LNG supplies to Japan and South Korea.
Currently, Pertamina covers the shortage using excess
production capacity at its Bontang LNG plant in East Kalimantan.
Iin said that an ExxonMobil team assessing Arun's security
situation returned last week, concluding that security in the
area had improved.
This week, he said, ExxonMobil would dispatch another team to
evaluate the condition of its gas facilities.
"After that, they will know what must be repaired; then they
can then decide when to resume normal operations," he explained.
Iin said the team would need another five days to complete the
examination of its gas facilities.
He estimated that repair work at the gas facilities may take
less than three weeks to complete.
"It is expected that by the end of July, or in the third week
of July, ExxonMobil can resume normal operations," he said.
ExxonMobil's decision to resume operations comes after
Pertamina president Baihaki issued the company with an ultimatum
to commence production preparations.
Baihaki said he demanded ExxonMobil start preparations by
Friday this week for the resumption of operations at its Arun
plant.
Iin declined to say whether ExxonMobil's willingness to return
to Arun had been a result of the ultimatum or their own
initiative.
He said that ExxonMobil would start operations at two of the
three gas field clusters in the area. The two clusters, he said,
would produce about 150 million cubic feet of gas per day.
At present, only ExxonMobil's North Shelf Offshore (NSO) gas
field is operating, mainly because it remains safe from security
threats.
Natural gas streaming from the NSO field is sufficient to fuel
power generators at the Arun LNG plant.
Later, Iin said, ExxonMobil would raise NSO's gas output to
allow it to supply natural gas to two nearby fertilizer plants.
The plants, PT Pupuk Iskandar Muda and PT Asean Aceh
Fertilizer, were also forced to suspend operations.
"Each (of the fertilizer plants) will receive about 50 million
cubic feet (of gas)," he said.
Meanwhile, Pertamina said it was eying a deal to refine 50,000
barrels-per-day (bpd) of crude in Thailand under short-term
contracts.
"In the short term, we are talking about 50,000 bpd ... three
months first," Baihaki was quoted as saying by Reuters. (bkm)