Gas for Petrogres not yet final: Minister

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Jero Wacik denied an earlier report that his office has decided to allocate gas from the MDA-MDH field in Offshore Madura Strait, East Java, to state-owned petrochemical firm PT Petrokimia Gresik (Petrogres), Bisnis Indonesia daily reported Friday.

The paper on Thursday, quoting East Java-based Petrogres President Director Hidayat Nyakman, said that the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, upstream oil and gas authority SKK Migas, the Ministry of Industry, and the company had signed an agreement on the allocation of gas from the MDA-MDH field operated by Husky-CNOOC Madura Ltd for Petrogres.

Jero said that what he signed on was not gas allocation agreement, but was the minutes of a meeting on the possible allocation of gas from the MDA-MDH field for Petrogres. He added that would not make a final decision until the ongoing assessment of the condition and reliability of the 19-year old East Java gas pipeline has been completed. The pipeline will be used to deliver the gas from the field to Petrogres, which requires extra gas supply to support its planned second ammonia and urea manufacturing plant. (*)