Minister promises to provide gas supply for industry

Minister of Industry MS Hidayat has promised to help manufacturers get additional gas supplies from the country?s gas producers to cope with the gas shortage they have been suffering for years, Kontan reported Tuesday.

Hidayat said that gas consumers in the manufacturing sector still had the opportunity to get additional gas because gas purchase agreements between producers and state owned electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), the country's largest gas user, had not all been signed.

?We hoped gas supply for manufacturers could exceed 600 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) (this year),? he was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

According to the association of gas users in the manufaturing sector (FIPGB), gas supplies to the sector reach only 583 MMSCFD, far lower than their actual need of about 801 MMSCFD.

Achmad Widjaya, the chairman of the association, said that many manufacturers such as ceramics producers, flat glass and packaging glass producers have been forced to reduce working hours due to shortage of gas supply.

The lack of gas supply did not only affect production activities but could also reduce employment, he said, adding that many foreign investors which operate in the sector could also relocate their factories to other countries, if the gas shortage could not be immediately resolved. (*)