Pertamina asks local governments in Aceh to set up consortium

State oil and gas company PT Pertamina has asked local governments in Aceh to set up a consortium to represent them in the operation of the Arun LNG plant after it ended its operation in 2014, Kompas reported on Saturday.

According to the plan, Pertamina would modify the LNG Arun plant into a LNG gasification plant (LNG receiving terminal) when the plant stopped operation in 2014 because the depletion of gas reserves.

Pertamina?s spokesman Mochamad Harun said in Jakarta Friday that the regasification plant would receive LNG from LNG tankers and distribute it to local industries especially the state fertilizer company PT Pupuk Iskandar Muda.

Pertamina invited the local governments in Aceh to jointly operate the regasification plant but he added that they should form a consortium under the coordination of the Aceh provincial administration-owned company (BUMD) to represent them in the joint venture with Pertamina in operating the regasification plant.

Harun said that through the consortium, the local governments could operate the existing turbine in the Arun plant to produce electricity. ?The power plant can use gas from Pertamina,? he added.

The Arun LNG Plant, the first LNG plant in the country, will have to be closed in 2014 because the depletion of gas reserves at the Arun gas field, the only gas supplier for the plant. The Arun LNG plant mostly exports its production. A small part of the production is supplied to local industries including PT Pupuk Iskandar Muda. (*)