Contractors to be picked in mid-October to fix E. Java gas pipeline

The government and state oil and gas firm Pertamina will choose in mid-October contractors to fix the company?s undersea natural gas pipeline in East Java which reportedly had been floating above sea bottom due to strong currents, according to a government official.

?In the middle of this month, the government and Pertamina will decide contractors to fix the pipeline,? L. Harijanto, spokesman of BP-Migas, told Petromindo.Com. BP-Migas holds the highest authority over the country?s upstream oil and gas sector.

Harjanto however declined to mention contractors who might be selected.

He only said BP-Migas and Pertamina officials had been scheduled to meet on Wednesday to discuss various matters concerning the East Java gas pipeline, including contractors and methods of returning the pipeline to its normal position.

The 440-kilometer long pipeline transmits natural gas from BP Indonesia?s Pagerungan field on Kangean Island to East Java. A 370-km long section of the pipeline passes the Java Sea.

BP Indonesia disclosed recently that the pipeline had floated above the sea bottom, and that it might lead to pipeline failure and fires or explosions. Government and Pertamina officials said however that BP had exaggerated the dangers of the pipeline condition.

BP supplies through the pipeline some 200 million cubic feet of gas per day to state-owned electricity company PT PLN, fertilizer firm Petrokimia Gresik and state gas distribution and transmission firm PT PGN which distributes gas to industries in East Java. (godang)