Commissioning of Arun-Belawan gas pipeline set for December 10

PT Pertamina Gas (Pertagas), a subsidiary of state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina, plans to begin commissioning stage of the 350 Km Arun-Belawan gas pipeline on December 10 as it has secured the necessary gas supply from ExxonMobil Indonesia, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Tuesday.

The paper quoted Pertagas President Director Hendra Jaya as saying that talks for the gas supply have been concluded with upstream oil and gas authority SKK Migas and ExxonMobil. He said that the latter company has agreed to supply gas from the North Sumatra Offshore (NSO) block to the pipeline, which links Arun in Aceh and Belawan in North Sumatra.

?The Arun-Belawan pipeline will enter commissioning stage on December 10,? said Hendra.

Deputy Chairman of SKK Migas, J. Widjonarko, was quoted by Tribunnews.com as saying that ExxonMobil will supply about 185 mmscfd of gas from the NSO block to the Arun-Belawan pipeline for 5-6 days to facilitate the commissioning stage.

Meanwhile, ExxonMobil Indonesia Vice President for Public and Government Affairs, Erwin Maryoto, was quoted by Bisnis Indonesia as saying Tuesday that the planned supply of gas from the NSO block is still being discussed intensively. ?We?re still (in the process of) completing the gas sales and purchase agreement,? he said, but declined to provide details as talks have yet to be concluded. (*)