Pertamina, PGN to be appointed as gas aggregator

The government will assign state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina and state-controlled gas distribution firm PT PGN Tbk as gas aggregator to collect gas from various sources and redistribute it to consumers at home, reports said on Thursday.

Acting Director General of Oil and Gas IGN Wiratmadja was quoted by Bisnis Indonesia as saying that the presence of gas aggregator is also expected to resolve the wide gap of gas price paid by consumers.

Consumers currently pay different prices of gas depending on the cost structure of the gas source.

Wiratmadja said that the aggregators will collect gas from different sources, ?mixed them,? and redistribute it to consumers at a relatively fixed price determined by the government.

Elsewhere, Wiratmadja said that gas consumption at home is projected to surge to 11,049 mmscfd in 2019 from the current 9,688 mmscfd, half of which to be supplied via import.

He said that the surge in gas consumption is primarily due to additional gas demand from a combined 13,400 MW power plants to be developed over the next five years.

Gas demand from power plants is projected to jump by 1,100 mmscfd in 2019 from the current 1,250 mmscfd. Gas demand from fertilizer industry is forecast to increase by 200 mmscfd to 1,300 mmscfd in 2019, he added.

Wiratmadja could not yet disclose the country?s gas import plan as it is still being assessed by a government team. (*)