Eni plans RI?s first wellhead gas-fired power plant

Eni S.p.A through subsidiary Eni Indonesia plans to develop an offshore wellhead gas-fired power plant (PLTG), which will be the country?s first and largest.

This was said by Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Ignasius at an electricity sector forum as quoted by ministry press statement issued Tuesday.

?The location of the offshore PLTG is planned in Makassar with a capacity of 400-450 MW. It will be floating in the deep sea area. We support the project,? Jonan said.

He said that the ministry is encouraging investors to team up with state-owned electricity firm PT PLN to develop wellhead gas-fired power plants which will help generate cheaper electricity in the long-run. ?By developing wellhead plants, it will reduce cost of transportation and other expenses,? he said.

Jonan added that the government is also encouraging the development mine mouth coal-fired power plants to help reduce electricity production costs. He added that the mine mouth power plant projects at home will also be crucial to help absorb the country?s coal output amid lingering uncertainty of the global coal market particularly if China increases output which would affect Indonesian coal producers.

Indonesia produces around 400,000 tons of coal per year, of which about 80 percent is exported.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak