Pertamina plans to develop two additional LNG trains in East Kalimantan

President of the state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina, Baihaki Hakim, said that the company may have to develop two additional LNG (liquefied natural gas) train facilities in the province to benefit from the huge untapped gas reserves.

?Our untapped oil and gas reserves in East Kalimantan is still around 10 trillion (tcf). So we can develop another train here. But if the exploration activity in the Makassar Strait is successful, we may need two additional train facilities,? he was quoted by the local Radar Kaltim daily as saying in Bontang, East Kalimantan, when accompanying Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri?s recent visit to the mayoralty.

Pertamina is currently developing its ninth LNG train in Bontang called the Train I facility.

Baihaki added that with the development in technology, the gas reserves might further increase as untapped reserves in difficult areas could be come economical to exploit.

But he also said that the technological development would also create new competitors for Indonesia, so far the world?s largest LNG exporters.

He said that the country? was now facing more competition in the LNG overseas market including from Malaysia and Australia.(*)