Pertamina adds diesel oil supply to Sicanang power plant in N. Sumatra

State owned oil and gas company Pertamina has provided additional diesel oil supply of about 750 kiloliters per day to the combined cycled Sicanang power plant in North Sumatra so that the power plant could maintain its operation despite the shortage of gas supply, Kompas reported on Thursday.

The Sicanang power plant has suffered a shortage of gas supply due to the decline in the gas reserves at the Langkat gas field, the power plant's main gas source. The shortage of gas supply has sharply reduced the electricity supply from the power plant, causing a deficit in the power supply in the entire North Sumatra.

Albert Pangaribuan, the general manager of PLN's office for northern Sumatra, said that the additional diesel oil supply would only be able to reduce the gas supply deficit to 130 MW from 197 MW.

In order to narrow the power supply deficit, Pertamina plans to further increase the diesel oil supply by another 7,700 kiloliters on June 7 and another 5,300 kiloliters on June 8, Alberta said.

He said that the local PLN office would also maximize the generating capacity of other plants in the province including the Renun hydropower plant so that the power supply from this power plant could be increased to 82 MW from about 50 MW at present. (*)