Gajah Baru gas to go to consumers in Batam or Sumatra

By Godang Sitompul

The government has asked upstream authority BPMIGAS to distribute gas from the Gajah Baru field in Natuna to industrial consumers in Batam and Sumatra, said Vice Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Rudi Rubiandini.

?I have instructed so for some of the gas to fulfill (demand) in Batam, while the remainder to be sold to consumers in Sumatra. But it would all depend on the (gas) pipeline of PGN and TGI (Trans Gas Indonesia),? he told Petromindo.com.

The Gajah Baru gas was initially dedicated for PLN?s Muara Tawar power plant in Bekasi, West Java. But due to the lack of pipeline capacity in distributing the gas, the government latter sought to sell the gas to state-owned steel maker PT Krakatau Steel, but failed to reach an agreement on the price.

Director General of Oil and Gas Evita Legowo said recently that the gas from the Gajah Baru field would be dedicated for domestic market.

Meanwhile, BPMIGAS Spokesman Gde Pradnyana said that his office was still discussing the various commercial and technical aspects of distributing the gas to other consumers.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak