Kujang fertilizer plant faces serious shortage of gas supply
Saturday, December 10 2005 - 01:49 AM WIB
Vice President of BP Indonesia, Nico Kanter said in Jakarta on Friday that the company was still assessing whether the existing pipeline was still feasible enough to transmit gas from its Offshore North West Java (ONWJ) field to Pupuk Kujang in Cikampek, West Java.
Kanter said that the decision whether or not the company is able to supply gas to Pupuk Kujang could be only made by the end of next year because the assessment would take at least six months to be completed.
Kujang fertilizer producer has not signed any contract with BP Indonesia but the latter is the only possible source for its gas supply. Earlier reports said that the fertilizer producer was still negotiating gas supply of about 17 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) from PT Ordira Energy Persada to resume the operation of its unit IA fertilizer plant.
The gas supply from PT Ordira, however, will be far from enough to meet the gas need of the fertilizer producer's IA plant which reaches about 60 MMSCFD. PT Kujang hopes that remaining 43 MMSCFD can be supplied by BP Indonesia.
Kujang I stopped its operation recently because Pertamina was no longer able to supply enough gas due to depletion of its gas reserves. Under the existing contract which will end in December, Pupuk Kujang should receive gas supply of about 60 MMSCFD to produce about 570 tons of urea and 330 tons of ammonia a year.
Pertamina is only able to provide gas supply of about 48 MMS FD for Pupuk Kujang's second plant Kujang IB, which is scheduled to begin commercial operation next year. The gas contract will, however, last only until 2009. (*)