ANZOIL LPG project in S. Sumatra hampered by problems

Australian listed oil and gas firm ANZOIL Limited said Tuesday that negotiations continued with Indonesian authorities to obtain final ministerial approval for the Lembak liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) plant in South Sumatra province.

According to the company, the approval process has been hampered by a combination of the current political climate in Indonesia and the ?unique nature? of the project.

The Lembak LPG Project is the first downstream development in Indonesia in which government does not participate

Despite these obstacles, said the company, good progress had been made towards approvals and ANZOIL expected that final consent will be achieved during August 2001.

Earlier, ANZOIL said in a statement that the construction of the project was expected to start in June 2001 and become on stream in July 2002.

Lembak LPG project is designed to produce 120-130 tons of LPG per day and 250 barrels of condensate per day for export to the growing markets of South East Asia.

The operations is expected to generate annual turnover in excess of US$13 million annually during 15 years of operations.(alex)