Main heat exchanger for Bontang train-G installed

BONTANG, East Kalimantan (JP): PT Inti Karya Persada Tehnik (IKPT), an Indonesian engineering and construction company, erected the main heat exchanger for train-G of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant here over the weekend.

The work completed 65 percent of the train construction.

"The main heat exchanger is the heart of this project. It functions to cool down and liquefy the gas," Guntur Sumaryono, PT IKPT's general site manager for train-G, told reporters after the erection of the exchanger.

He said that the bottle-like main exchanger is one of 120 kinds of equipment to be used in train-G. Of the 120 pieces of equipment, 57 are made by local companies, including PT PAL, PT Barata and PT Boma Bisma Indra.

The 183-ton main exchanger -- the erection of which was delayed for several hours over the weekend due to heavy rain -- was ordered two years ago from Air Products Chemical Industry Co., an engineering company in the United States. It cost more than US$16 million.

Guntur said that the construction of train-G, which will have an annual capacity of 2.6 million tons, will be completed in November. "I'm optimistic of meeting the schedule, as we have completed 64.62 percent of the work, which is almost 4.5 percent above our target," he said.

Train-G will expand the annual capacity of the Bontang LNG plant to 18.5 million tons.

PT IKPT, which is owned by timber tycoon Mohamad (Bob) Hasan and President Soeharto's eldest son Sigit Harjojudanto, secured a $511 million contract under a repeat order to construct train-G from the state-owned oil Pertamina last March.

Nurtjahjono, the project development manager of PT Badak NGL, the operator of the Bontang LNG plant, said that the plant's total capacity will rise to 21.5 million tons per annum when the construction of train-H is completed in the year 2000.

He refused to disclose the source of funds for train-H. He said that for the train-G, his company got loans from foreign banks.

Currently, he said, all the LNG production from Bontang is exported to Japan and South Korea.

According to him, Pertamina is currently pursuing negotiations with several prospective buyers for the LNG from train-H.

Asked whether PT Badak will grant the contract for train-H to IKPT, he said, "I don't know yet. It depends on Pertamina as the owner of this plant. But seen from IKPT's reputation until now, the company is likely to get the order to construct train-H."

IKPT, which has been accredited with a ISO-9001 certificate by Lloyd's Register of Britain, is building train-G in cooperation with the Japanese company Chiyoda Corporation.

IKPT became the first Indonesian company to act as the main contractor for an LNG train in the country in 1992 when it clinched a contract from Pertamina to construct train-F.

Its involvement in the Bontang LNG plant began as a sub- contractor in the construction of train-E. (13)