Government to cut condensate exports

The government has decided to divert some of the country's condensate exports to domestic use, especially for Pertamina's refineries and PT Trans Pacific Petrochemical Indonesia (TPPI), Bisnis Indonesia reported Saturday.

?We have discussed the immediate implementation of maximum usage of condensate for domestic purposes during our meeting this morning (Friday),? Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Friday.

The meeting, which was also attended by TPPI's commissioner Barcelius Ruru and head of the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulator BPMIGAS Kardaya Warnika, didn't discuss technical details of the implementation of the program.

According to Purnomo, the government is recalculating how big the size of diversion of condensate exports to meet the domestic demand.

?Pertamina and TPPI were given one week time to make a report on their optimal use of condensate. What is clear is that the government wants to reduce the maximum level of condensate imports," Purnomo said.

The condensate will be sold on the domestic market at international market prices. The government will not give any subsidy to Pertamina and TPPI in this case. They can only save transportation costs, Purnomo added.

According to Barcelius Ruru, TPPI has to import around 75,000 barrels per day from the total condensate requirement of 100,000 barrels per day. (*)