BPMIGAS, PLN and PGN committed to speed up gas swap deal
Thursday, February 23 2012 - 03:31 AM WIB
Upstream authority BPMIGAS, state electricity company PT PLN and gas distributor PT Perusahaan Gas Negara Tbk (PGN) have declared a commitment to speed up the implementation swap agreement on gas supply from Gajah Baru field.
Rudi Rubiandini, Deputy for Operation of BPMIGAS, told Petromindo.com that BPMIGAS held a meeting with PLN and PGN executives on Wednesday over the gas swap deal.
PLN President Director Nur Pamudji, said Rudi, has expressed his commitment to settle pending issues related with the swap agreement by the end of this week. At the same time, PGN will prepare technical aspects of the gas swap so that 40 million standard cubic feet (mmscfd) of gas will flow to Muara Tawar as soon as possible.
Per initial schedule PLN was supposed to get gas supply from the Gajah Baru field on Jan 25.
BPMIGAS has requested PGN to make an extra effort to realize this gas swap deal because this is a national program, said Rudi.
Under the swap deal, 40 mmscfd of gas from ConocoPhillips? Corridor Block originally planned to be sent to Singapore buyers, will be redirected to PLTG Muara Tawar, owned by PLN. While gas for Singapore buyers from Corridor Block, will be replaced by gas from Gajah Baru field, operated by Premier Oil.
The implementation of the deal was delayed after PLN rejected an additional clause in the gas swap agreement required by Gas Supply Pte Ltd, which handles gas supply to Singapore from Gajah Baru. The additional term in the clause requires PLN to pay compensation to SGPL?s customers in Singapore should there be supply disruption resulting from the swap agreement.
Rudi said BPMIGAS and PLN had resolved the pending issues relating to the additional clause. ?PLN has accepted BPMIGAS' offer of assurance that the authority will seek alternative gas sources in the event of disruption of gas supply to Singapore.?
Editing by Roffie Kurniawan