AMDAL for development of Tangguh LNG project approved
Saturday, October 26 2002 - 03:25 AM WIB
BP-Migas, the government?s agency which is responsible for the supervision of the country?s oil and gas industry, said the approval marked the success of the project operator BP Indonesia in analyzing the possible social and environmental impact of the project.
BP Indonesia has spent at least two years to prepare the AMDAL involving not only independent environmental experts and academicians but also informal leaders from the local community. This is the first AMDAL which is made in accordance to the latest regulation issued by Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedal) in which the environmental impact analyses or AMDAL should not only cover the possible impact of the project to the environment but also its social impact on the people living near the project.
According to BP-Migas, the involvement of the local community?s leaders is important to ensure that the development of the LNG project would also bring a positive impact to the local people.
The construction of the Tangguh LNG plant which is located in Berau-Bintuni gulf, Manokwari, Papua, will be commenced in 2003. The plant will have two LNG trains with an annual processing capacity of seven tons each. The natural gas for the LNG plant will be supplied from the Tangguh gas field in the location which has a proven gas reserve of about 14.4 trillion cubic feet. The LNG project, which will absorb about $3 billion in investment, is expected to start production by 2005.
BP Indonesia owns 50 percent stake in the LNG project, with the other 16 percent by Mitsubishi, 12 percent by Nippon, 11 percent British Gas, 10 percent Kanematsu Corp, and the remaining one percent by Nissho Iwai. (*)