Natuna-Batam gas pipeline to be completed in Sept 2015
Thursday, March 20 2014 - 07:13 AM WIB
The Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) works of the Natuna-Batam gas pipeline project have just started and are targeted to be completed in September 2015, according to an official of the upstream authority SKK Migas.
"The project will take 18 months to develop. It started in March this year, which means the construction of the pipeline will be completed in September 2015," Head of Communications and Protocol at SKK Migas Zudaldi Rafdi told Petromindo.com on Wednesday.
Zudaldi explained that the pipeline has a diameter of 16 inches and a maximum pressure of 400 psi and a capacity of 80 mmscfd. The facility will funnel gas from Natuna Sea Block A to Batam island, where the gas will be used for electricity generation by PT PLN Batam, a subsidiary of state owned electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) and PT Universal Batam Energy (UBE), a subsidiary of PT Medco Power Indonesia, which are both building two gas turbine power plants (PLTG) with a combined capacity of 155 MW. UBE is building a 2x35 MW power plant, PLN a 2x42.5 MW power plant.
"Investment for this project is approximately US$ 170 million," he said, adding that its EPC contractor is PT KPM Oil and Gas.
According to him, the construction of the pipeline is divided into two sections, namely Natuna-Pemping segment (5 km) with an investment of $50 million and Pemping-Batam segment (14 km) with an investment of $ 120 million. Pemping is a small island in Indonesian territory close to Batam and Singapore.
Meanwhile, Deputy for Commercial Control at SKK Migas, Widhyawan Prawiraatmadja explained that the pipeline from West Natuna Transportation System (WNTS) to the island Pemping will be built by British firm Premier Oil, the operator of Natuna Sea Block A. The WNTS is a gas pipeline connecting the gas fields in the Natuna Sea Block A to Singapore.
The Natuna-Pemping pipeline, he continued, would be connected with the pipeline from Pemping to Tanjung Uncang, Batam, which is being built by a consortium of Bright PLN Batam, the business unit of PLN in Batam, and UBE.
"Once all the pipeline development have been completed, the gas amounting to 40 bbtud from the Gajah field of Block A in Natuna Sea operated by Premier Oil can flow into the power plants in Batam," he said.
Editing by Johannes Simbolon