Gas leak not to affect PLN service, top executive says

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A gas leak in Madura has disrupted industrial activities in East Java, but state electricity company PT PLN said the impact of the incident on its operations was minimal.

PLN president Eddie Widiono said the incident had disrupted gas supplies to East Java and forced PLN to shut down one of three units at its gas turbine power plant in Gresik, due to the lack of gas.

Each unit has the capacity to generate 500 Megawatts (MW) of power.

"The power unit shutdown has reduced our power reserves, but we can still operate normally," Eddie said.

He explained that the capacity of the Java-Bali power grid reached 18,000 MW, while its peak load stood at 13,700 MW. This meant that under normal conditions, PLN had a total reserve of 4,300 MW. The shutdown of one power unit at the Gresik plant had reduced the power reserve on the Java-Bali grid by a mere 500 MW.

Eddie was commenting on the gas leak which occurred Tuesday in the Pagerungan contract area in Madura, East Java, operated by Anglo-American energy giant, BP PLC. Due to the leaks, BP shut down five gas fields in the contract area.

Hundreds of industrial firms have been badly affected by the leak, including fertilizer producer PT Petrokimia Gresik and gas producer PT Perusahaan Gas Negara.

BP Indonesia vice president Satya Widya Yudha was quoted by the press as saying that the gas leaks occurred because some pipes at the closed gas fields had worn out. The company promised to fix the pipes in twenty days.

Following the incident, Eddie said that gas supplies to PLN's Gresik power plant dropped 10,000 MMCFD (million cubic feet per day) to 70,000 MMCFD.

He said thus far, PLN's service output remained normal, but should problems occur at other power plants while BP fixed its pipes, PLN services could be affected.

PLN sends about 1,000 MW of power from East Java to Central and West Java to cover shortfalls in the two areas.

Separately, Petrokimia revealed that the gas leak had forced it to temporarily halt its ammonia fertilizer, ZA fertilizer and urea productions.

"The production processes must be halted because of a shortage of gas supplies," said spokesman Priyanto Widjokaryo, as quoted by Antara.

He said prior to the gas leak, the company received 180,000 MMCFD from BP, but that the supply had dropped 100,000 MMCFD does this mean it is only getting 80 MMCFD? or did it drop 80 MMCFD and it is receiving only 100 MMCFD now? due to the incident.

However, Priyanto assured that the company still had enough stock fertilizer for three months, and that customers need not worry about fertilizer supply problems.