Due to fire, Tangguh Train II operation stopped

Following a small fire that hit its cooling system, the operation of Tangguh Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant?s Train II in West Papua province, has to be stopped for several weeks for repair, said a senior official of upstream authority BPMIGAS.

?The cooling unit of Tangguh Train II caught a small fire last Tuesday at 11.30 local time. Procedures have required the operator to stop the operation as soon as possible after fire,? said BPMIGAS Deputy for Operation, Gde Pradnyana as quoted by antaranews in Jakarta on Sunday

He said that the temporary stop of the facility would last for several weeks, a relatively long time, to enable the operator to conduct necessary repair and replacement of certain parts of the unit.

According to him, the fire was believed to have been caused by overheating and the operator had managed to extinguish the fire.

He added that Train I of Tangguh plant was still undergoing a maintenance service but after that it will be back into its normal operation.

Operated by BP Indonesia, the Tangguh LNG plant in the Bintuni Bay area of West Papua province has two trains which both have a total capacity of 3.8 million tons per year.

Since 2009, its gas production has been committed under long term contracts for exports to China, South Korea and Sempra of the United States.

BP Indonesia has an interest of 37.16 percent in the LNG asset, with its partners MI Berau VB at 16.3 percent, CNOOC Ltd 13.9 percent, Nippon Oil Exploration (Berau) Ltd 12.23 percent, KG Berau/KG Wiriagar 10 percent, LNG Japan Corporation 7.35 percent and Talisman 3.06 percent. (*)