Delays expected in tendering Natuna projects
Delays expected in tendering Natuna projects
JAKARTA (JP): The government may delay the tendering of
development projects in Natuna until next week from the original
schedule of Oct. 1 because it is still finalizing the projects'
legal framework, a minister said yesterday.
"We have delayed the tendering not because of technical
problems but because of legal problems. The President has already
issued decree No.97/1996 on the development of Natuna. And now
we're finalizing a ministerial decree on its implementation,"
State Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie said.
"Hopefully, we can finalize the ministerial decree later this
week and tender the projects some time next week," said Habibie
after addressing a seminar and workshop on Norwegian and
Indonesian Science & Technology for Sustainable Development.
The government announced Sept. 25 that it would tender the
Natuna projects, including a gas project, on Oct. 1.
According to Habibie, the development projects are to begin in
1998 and will include the development of the Natuna islands in
Riau into a center for natural gas liquefaction and high-
technology industries.
He refused to identify the companies that will take part in
the tendering but said that they come from Norway, Germany,
France, the United States, Britain and Japan.
"All of them have an equal chance to win the contracts. But
we'll select them by considering their technological capability
and experience," he said.
He said that the contracts to be awarded will include the
construction of infrastructure, the development of a gas field
and the construction of two liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants,
which are expected to start production in 2003 or 2004.
"The infrastructure will cost about US$10 billion, while the
gas projects US$20 billion," he said.
Habibie said that the liquefied natural gas plants would
produce up to 15 million tons of LNG a year for 30 years.
Indonesia is the largest producer of LNG in the world, with
its total production 22.2 million tons a year, or 30.2 percent of
the world's total output.
The country's LNG, all exported to Japan, South Korea and
Taiwan, comes from two gas fields, in Arun, Aceh, and in Bontang,
East Kalimantan.
The Natuna gas project is expected to become the largest gas
field in Indonesia. According to official data, the field is
estimated to contain 222 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. But
only 75 percent of the gas is recoverable because of its high
carbon dioxide (CO2) content.
Asked whether the winners of the Natuna gas tender will be
those which also have the capability to develop the Membramo
hydro electric power in Irian Jaya, Habibie said, "No. They will
offered as different projects.
"But there is a technology that will enable us in the future
to bring the liquefied CO2 from Natuna to the planned Membramo
hydropower plant in Irian Jaya and use it as a raw material for
making synthetic gas. The other raw materials, such as oxygen and
hydrogen can be produced through the hydropower plant," he said.
He said that the liquefied CO2 can be also used for making
steel.
The seminar, which was officially opened by Norwegian Minister
of Industry and Energy Jens Stoltenberg and Habibie, was attended
by businessmen and scientists of the two countries and continues
until tomorrow. (13)