ExxonMobil has no fixed date for operation
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)