Bekasi?s BBWM plans to invest in new gas processing plants

PT Bina Bangun Wibawa Mukti (BBWM), a company owned by the Bekasi Regency administration in West Java, plans to build one or two new gas processing plants to capitalize on the huge gas potential in the regency and LPG demand in the heavily populated island of Java.

BBWM Finance Director Eko Budi Purnawan said in a statement received Saturday that the company has targeted one new gas processing plant that would produce LPG to be completed in 2016. The company plans to finance the planned project, which is estimated to cost about US$35 million for one plant plus the necessary infrastructure facilities, via combination of internal funds and bank loans.

BBWM, under a partnership with a private-owned company PT Odira Energy Persada, currently owns an LPG plant, processing flare gas resulting from the Tambun and Pondok Tengah blocks in Bekasi operated by state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina. Odira is scheduled to transfer the LPG plant to BBWM in 2016 as agreed under the build, operate, and transfer (BOT) deal signed in 2004. The LPG plant currently has a production capacity of 32 million cubic feet per day of gas.

BBWM President Director Prananto Sukodjatmoko said that it makes business sense for his company to build a new LPG plant considering the huge gas potential in the regency, which is estimated to be 70 mmscfd. ?Bekasi has one of the highest gas reserves in Java,? he said.

In addition, Java offers huge market potential for LPG. Bekasi currently supplies about 40 percent of the LPG demand in the island, about 80 percent of which allocated for the industrial customers, and the remaining 20 percent for household customers.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak