Eastkal Supply Base starts operation

By Bernard Loebs

The Eastkal Supply Base port in East Kalimantan, owned by PT Pelabuhan Penajam Banua Taka, a subsidiary of IDX-listed conglomerate PT Astra International, has come into operation since September of this year.

The first customer that has been using the new facility is IDX-listed oil and gas service company PT Apexindo Pratama Duta Tbk, which has sent its Panama-flagged Soehanah jack-up rig to the port for repair and maintenance.

Eastkal Supply Base?s Marketing Director Billy P. Kadar explained Soehanah rig was previously leased by Total E&P Indonesie (TEPI) for use at Mahakam block in East Kalimatan. After the work contract ended in August of this year, it was brought to Eastkal Supply Base for repair and maintenance.

Apexindo will also bring another jackup rig, called Raniworo, to the port for repair and maintenance once its work contract for Mahakam block has ended. In the near future, a swamp barge drilling rig, called Hibiscus, owned by Shelf Drilling, will also be brought to the port for the same purpose, Billy said.

Eastkal Supply Base has been developed by Astra in order to capture business opportunities in the oil and gas sector. Under the cabotage policy that has come into effect in the country for several years, oil and gas companies are only allowed to lease Indonesian-flagged rigs. Due to the lack of Indonesian-flagged rigs, many oil and gas companies have to lease foreign-flagged rigs. The government allows this to happen, requiring them to obtain the so-called Temporary Import License for the rigs. After the contracts on the rigs have ended, they must be taken outside of the country. Most of the rigs are taken to Singapore ports for repair and maintenance.

Thanks to the development of ports such as Eastkal Supply Base, foreign-flagged rigs do need to be taken outside of the country after their contracts end. The government has issued the Second Package of Economic Policies which allow certain ports such as Eastkal Supply Base as bonded zones. Foreign-flagged rigs can be taken to such ports after their contracts end.

Aside from oil and gas companies, Eastkal Supply Base also serve mining companies by providing storage for ammonium nitrate, Billy said.

Facilities that have been built at Eastkal Supply Base include a 200m-long dedicated jetty with a water depth of 12 meters, which can accommodate two vessels each with the capacity of 10,000 dwt; a 12,000 sq m closed warehouse, an open-space stockpiling field; heavy equipment such as cranes, forklifts, trailers etc.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon