Megawati launches 14 alternative fuel projects worth $2 billion
The Jakarta Post, Indramayu, West Java
President Megawati Soekarnoputri officiated over 14 oil and gas projects worth US$1.976 billion on Monday, some of which are expected to boost the use of clean fuel, including natural gas and unleaded gasoline, in the country.
Four of the projects have been completed, while development of the other 10 is to commence soon.
One of the projects that will boost the use of clean fuel is the $485 million gas pipeline project, which will link Pagar Dewa in gas-rich South Sumatra to Cilegon, Banten, one of the country's main industrial regions.
The pipeline will be developed by state gas distribution and transmission firm PT PGN.
Other projects that will also boost the use of clean fuel are the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) mini refineries in Limau Timur, South Sumatra, and in Cemara, Indramayu, West Java, owned by state oil and gas company Pertamina, which have been completed.
The Limau Timur LPG plant alone will produce about 200 tons of LPG per day.
LPG, considered a clean fuel, is commonly used by middle and upper class households in urban areas.
Other clean fuel project launched on Monday is the facility at the Cilacap refinery, Central Java, which will convert low-octane mogas components into high-octane mogas components, the main components in producing unleaded gasoline. The project, which aims to support the government's Blue Sky program to scrap the use of hazardous, leaded gasoline in the country by 2005, will be developed by Pertamina.
"I urge the public to take benefits from all these projects," Megawati said during the ceremony to launch the projects at the Balongan refinery complex in Indramayu.
Megawati was accompanied by, among others, her husband Taufik Kiemas, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro, State Minister of the Environment Nabiel Makarim and West Java governor Danny Setiawan.
Purnomo said the projects were expected to improve investors' confidence in the country's oil and gas sector.
Other completed projects launched by the President are Pertamina's CO2 removal facility in Subang, West Java, and the compression facility at the Tunu gas fields in East Kalimantan worth $551 million, jointly owned by upstream authority BP Migas and Total E&P Indonesie.
Other projects being developed or to be developed soon include Pertamina's Plaju LNG plant in South Sumatra and the procurement of two "very large crude carriers" (VLCC) owned by Pertamina. The 260,000 deadweight ton (dwt) tankers, which are being built in South Korea, each have a capacity for two million barrels of oil.