Pertamina starts construction of 13th LNG plant
Pertamina starts construction of 13th LNG plant
BONTANG, East Kalimantan (JP): State-owned oil company
Pertamina started yesterday the construction of the country's
13th liquefied natural gas (LNG) production unit here with an
investment of US$950 million.
Pertamina's president Faisal Abda'oe said at the ground
breaking ceremony that the production unit, called Train-G, is
the seventh at Pertamina's Bontang plant.
He said 70 percent of the investment will be financed by Exim
Bank of Japan and the remaining 30 percent by Fuji Bank Ltd. of
Japan, LTCB of Japan and Credit Lyonnais of France.
The unit, constructed by Mohamad (Bob) Hasan's PT Inti Karya
Persada Tehnik, is scheduled to come on stream in November 1997
to produce 2.3 million tons of LNG and 104,000 tons of liquefied
petroleum gas per year.
"The establishment of the unit will strengthen Indonesia's
position as the biggest LNG producer in the world," Abda'oe told
reporters after the ceremony.
He said the unit will increase the Bontang plant's total
production capacity to 18.7 million tons per year.
Pertamina currently operates six LNG units in Bontang and
another six in Arun, Aceh, with a combined capacity of 26 million
tons per year.
Abda'oe said that the production of Train-G will be sold to
Japanese and South Korean companies.
Pertamina signed on Aug. 3 an extension contract with six
Japanese LNG buyers, comprising of Chubu Electric, Kansai
Electric, Kyushu Electric, Nippon Steel, Osaka Gas and Toho Gas.
Pertamina also signed on Aug. 12 a 20-year contract with
Korean Gas Corporation to supply one million tons of LNG per
year, starting 1998.
Eighth unit
Abda'oe said that Pertamina plans to build another production
unit in Bontang in 1998, which is expected to come on stream in
the year 2000.
He said the construction of the eighth unit, Train-H, with a
production capacity of 2.9 million tons per year, will also be
offered to domestic contractors.
PT Inti Karya Persada Tehnik's president, Raysoely Moeloek,
said the company will again be appointed as the main contractor
to build Train-H.
He said that there are six companies in the world which have
the capability to construct LNG trains, comprising of PT Inti
Karya Persada Tehnik, Bechtel and Keloog of the United States,
Technic of Europe, Chiyoda Electric of Japan and JGC of Japan.
At yesterday's ceremony, Abda'oe also launched Indonesia's
5,000th shipment of LNG from Bontang.
Indonesia thus far has made 2,586 shipments of LNG from Arun
and 2,432 shipments from Bontang. One ship contains 57,000 tons
worth about $8 million.
At the same occasion, Abda'oe sounded a siren to mark the
start of the upgrading of an oil refinery in Balikpapan.
The upgrading, which will cost $179 million, will increase the
capacity of the refinery from 45,000 barrels per day (bpd) to
60,000 bpd.
The refinery, which started operation in 1954, currently
produces only 35,000 barrels daily.
Abda'oe said 85 percent of the costs for the refinery
upgrading will be financed with export credits raised by the
government and the other 15 percent with off-shore loans.
The up-grading is being conducted by PT Elnusa, a subsidiary
of Pertamina, PT Citrasena Wibawa, JGC and Tomen Corporation of
Japan.(04)