Pertamina assigned to build 22 more CNG facilities

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sudirman Said has issued a new decree to assign state owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina to build 22 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in various parts of the country using the state budget, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) said in a statement on Monday.

The MEMR Decree No. 2016 K/15/MEM/2015 regarding the Assignment for PT Pertamina (Persero) to Provide and Distribute CNG for Road Transportation in the Fiscal Year of 2015, was issued on March 12, 2015 to implement the MEMR Regulation No 08/2014 regarding the Implementation and Provision and Distribution of CNG for Road Transportation.

Based on evaluation, Pertamina is considered worthy of assignment to provide and distribute CNG for road transportation, the ministry said.

Parts of the assignment are building and operating 10 CNG online station, six CNG mother stations, six CNG daughter stations together with their supporting infrastructures in Jakarta, Banten, West Java, Central Java and East Kalimantan in 2015.

The state firm should also provide natural gas for the new facilities as well as 19 existing CNG stations in Jakarta, Banten, West Java, Central Java, East Java, South Sumatra and East Kalimantan.

?The development of the 22 CNG stations along with their supporting infrastructures will be financed using the state budget,? the ministry said, without specifying the amount of the budget.

The ministry noted that the government has set natural gas allocations totaling 37.7 mmscfd for road transportation for the period of 2014-2015 as follows: 24 mmscfd for Jakarta, Banten and West Java; 1 mmscfd for Central Java; 10.2 mmscfd for East Java; 1.5 mmscfd for South Sumatra; and 1 mmscfd for East Kalimantan.

Pertamina may distribute gas to road transportations from the CNG stations it has and will build based on the above allocations, but the allocations can be adjusted depending on the realized volume of natural gas provided and distributed, the ministry noted.

Upstream authority is assigned to provide the gas based on the above allocations and adjust the gas allocations if necessary.

In doing its job, Pertamina is obligated among others to guarantee the availability of CNG sustainably; guarantee the standards, specifications and volume of CNG; guarantee public safety, work safety, installation safety and environmental safety; provide and explain to the public procedures of CNG utilization; guarantee quality of service to customers; and report regularly to the Directorate General of Oil and Gas on realized volume, standard evaluation and safety measures.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon