ExxonMobil has no fixed date for operation
JAKARTA (JP): The government and state oil and gas company Pertamina voiced optimism that ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia Inc. would resume its gas operation in Aceh on Wednesday, but the unit of American firm ExxonMobil Corp. again refused to give a fixed schedule.
Iin Arifin Takhyan, Pertamina's director for upstream operations, said the latest technical preparations at the Arun gas fields were proceeding much more smoothly compared to last week's work.
"We're convinced that the Arun gas fields will come back into operation tomorrow (Wednesday)," he said on the sidelines of a seminar on the outlook of gas utilization in Indonesia.
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro also said on Monday he was confident ExxonMobil would resume operations on Wednesday.
Pertamina officials have announced several timetables for the resumption of ExxonMobil's operation, but so far none of these timetables have been met.
Iin said ExxonMobil would resume the operation of the gas fields in Cluster Two in the first phase of the operation, which would be followed by the operation of the fields in the other three clusters. The company divide its gas fields into four clusters.
ExxonMobil was producing an average of 1.6 billion cubic feet of gas and 30,000 barrels of condensate daily before it suspended operations in mid-March.
ExxonMobil spokeswoman Deva Rahman said the company had made good progress in repairing its facilities in selected work areas.
"However, we have not yet fixed a schedule for the resumption of the gas operation," she told The Jakarta Post.
She said the resumption of the gas fields would not only be based on technical preparations, but also on the security situation.
ExxonMobil has never given a fixed timetable for the resumption of gas production at the field.
Iin said the resumption of operations by ExxonMobil would enable nearby liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer PT Arun NGL to restart its LNG production in late August.
ExxonMobil supplies 90 percent of its natural gas production to Arun NGL, while the remaining 10 percent is supplied to fertilizer firms PT Pupuk Iskandar Muda and PT ASEAN Aceh Fertilizer, as well as pulp firm PT Kertas Kraft Aceh.
Arun NGL, which relies on ExxonMobil for gas supplies, halted its LNG production soon after ExxonMobil halted its gas production.
Arun NGL has suffered Rp 4 trillion (US$350.8 million) in financial losses as a result of the halt in its production. It has failed to export 40 LNG shipments during the four-month period since ExxonMobil's gas supply was halted.
Indonesia has insisted ExxonMobil recommence its Aceh operations promptly because LNG demand in North Asia is expected to peak in the summer, and production at Pertamina's LNG center in Bontang, East Kalimantan, will be insufficient to meet all of Pertamina's LNG supply commitments. (05)