Bakrie asked to find suppliers of its Kalimantan-Java gas pipeline

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said in Jakarta Wednesday that PT Bakrie and Brothers which won the rights early this year to build a US$1.2 billion gas pipeline linking East Kalimantan and Central Java had not yet found the suppliers and buyers of the gas to be transmitted through the pipeline, Investor Daily reported Thursday.

"We have given the company almost a year but until now, it is still unable to find both the potential suppliers and buyers of its gas," he said when asked by reporters about the fate of the East Kalimantan-Central Java gas project.

According to Purnomo, PT Bakrie and Brothers will be allowed to go ahead with the pipeline project only if the company has enough gas supply and their potential buyers. But, when asked if the project will be finally cancelled, he said that it would be up to BPH Migas, oil and gas downstream regulatory body, to decide.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla said recently that the government might cancel the pipeline project as the result of a new study of the gas market in Java showed the project might not be necessary.(*)