LNG production at Arun will decline by 25% in 2005
Saturday, September 18 2004 - 02:38 AM WIB
PT Arun NGL Co plans to further reduce its LNG production at its LNG plant in Arun, North Aceh by about 25 percent in 2005 to 75 cargoes due to continuing decline in gas supply, Suara Karya reported on Saturday.
The decline in the gas supply is expected to further reduce the production in the coming years. In 2014, the production is expected to further drop to 30 cargoes or shipments. This year, PT Arun expects to produce about 103 cargoes.
"At present we only operate four of the six LNG trains (processing plants) due to the decline in the gas supply," PT Arun's spokesman Irwandar said. PT Arun also plans to layoff 300 of its low-ranking employees next year due to the decline in production activities. "In 2005, the total number of employees will be around 650 people," he said.
PT Arun relies its gas supply on ExxonMobil Indonesia, which operates a massive gas field near the LNG plant. But the oil reserves at the gas fields have declined sharply during the past several years, and the gas production is expected to further drop in the coming years, if new gas development is not carried out.
As the consequence of the drop in the gas reserves, ExxonMobil has cut its gas supply to two fertilizer producers and a craft paper producer in the province. The measure has been made because the existing gas production is only enough to meet PT Arun's LNG export commitment. (*)