Ministry receives request for incentives from Inpex

By Febry Silaban

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sudirman Said said he had received a letter from Japanese firm Inpex Corp., requesting incentives for its LNG project in Masela block, Maluku province.

Sudirman said he had asked upstream authority SKK Migas to study the request, noting the letter contains technical matters, economic calculations if the LNG project is developed onshore.

?The calculations are very technical. We thus asked SKK Migas to handle it,? Sudirman said.

He did not provide details regarding the incentives. ?What is clear is that any business or investment expects return. Whatever they are requesting, their intention is to gain a rate of return as expected,? Sudirman said.

Sudirman said the request for incentives is reasonable given the fact the government has instructed the firm to build an onshore LNG plant rather than an floating LNG plant as proposed by the firm in its Plan of Development (PoD). The government has even signaled that it will extend the firm?s contract on the block after its expiry in 2028.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon