Contract with Poten, Synergi may not materialize

By Febry Silaban

Upstream authority SKK Migas may cancel plans to hire a company affiliated with international consultant Poten & Partners to assess the technology for the LNG plant to be developed for the Abadi field within Masela block in Maluku Province, a source has told Petromindo.com.

The source said SKK Migas actually had no plan to hire Poten & Partners but an Indonesian company named PT Synergy Engineering, which is the local partner of the international consultant. The plan may fail to materialize because the firm set a requirement unacceptable to the Indonesian government.

?There isn?t yet any contract that has been signed by SKK Migas and Synergy. They (Synergy) have reservations about a clause in the contract document stating that the result of the assessment will be considered as the government?s possession,? the source said, adding SKK Migas is waiting for a final response from Synergy.

?They are likely to quit,? the source said.

When contacted for confirmation, both Djoko Siswanto, Director for the Management of Upstream Activities at the Directorate General of Oil and Gas, and Gunawan Sutadiwirja, Deputy of Planning Control at SKK Migas, refused to make any comments.

Synergy was approached by SKK Migas following an instruction from President Joko Widodo to find an international consultant to provide an input for the minister of energy and mineral resources to decide whether an onshore LNG plant of a floating LNG (FLNG) plant should be built for Abadi field. The owners of the block ? Inpex Corp and Royal Dutch Shell ? want to build an FLNG. They are supported by SKK Migas, but some ministers prefer onshore LNG plant.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon