Ministry of environment still uncertain when to give green light for Tangguh LNG project
Thursday, March 7 2002 - 01:31 AM WIB
The officials said they had started examining the documents on environmental impact assessment (Amdal) it had received from BP Indonesia which will develop the Tangguh project together with state oil and gas company Pertamina. It is Indonesia?s third LNG plant.
But they could not say whether the ministry?s special team tasked with studying the proposed Amdal would be able to complete its work in July as expected.
?It depends on whether the Amdal documents are reasonable. If we find that certain elements of the documents need to be reviewed, more time will surely be required. So, it will very much depend on the results of their own work,? Masnellyarti, deputy to the state minister for environment, told Petromindo.com.
Meanwhile, another deputy at the state ministry, Isakarmisa Adiputra, told Petromindo.com they were continuing to consult all parties concerned with the Tangguh project.
He said: ?We are continuing to complete our materials and have begun consulting the stakeholders. The sooner the better.?
BP Indonesia had earlier expected the environmental approval for the Tangguh project to be issued in July, to allow the construction of the project to start in 2003 and completed in 2005. The outlook is that the plant will start producing LNG in 2006, with the first export shipment to take place in the same year.
Tangguh has 14.4 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserve.
BP Indonesia is competing with two other bidders from Australia and Qatar to supply LNG to China?s Guandong province starting in 2006.
Late last year, Pertamina signed an agreement with Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) and another power company from that country, GNPower, to supply LNG from Tangguh.
BP Plcs owns 50 percent of the Tangguh project. (Leo)