Industry minister proposes subsidy for gas sales to industries

The ministry of industry has proposed to provide subsidy for the sales of gas to industries in order to help improve the competitiveness of the country?s manufacturing sector.

The ministry?s Director General for Chemical Industries Tony Tanduk said in Jakarta last week that the subsidy provision would also help eliminate gas price gap so that the manufacturing sector in all part of the country will be able to buy gas at the same prices

At present, gas is sold in different prices depending on the location of the gas fields which produce the gas. In North Sumatra, the average gas price is about US$8 per million British thermal unit (BTU) while in Java, the average price of gas in Java is about $8.23 per million BTU.

Tony said that the high gas price outside Java has made the manufacturing sector in the areas less competitive than those in Java.

Besides providing a subsidy, the government should also use the larger part of the gas production for the domestic market to ensure the certainty of gas supply to the manufacturing industry, he said. (*)