Pertamina?s Natuna-Arun pipeline plan vague: Official

The management of state oil and gas company Pertamina has not reported to its board of commissioners that it wants to build a pipeline to take gas from the Natuna Sea to liquefied natural gas plant in Aceh province, PT Arun NGL, according to board secretary Roez Aria Widjaja.

Widjaya told Petromindo.com on Friday Pertamina?s board of commissioners had the power to disapprove such projects if it viewed them unviable economically, according to existing rulings.

?Pertamina might have such plans. But, it had not submitted reports on its plan to DKPP,? Widjaya said. DKPP stands for Government Commissioners Board for Pertamina, which includes the coordinating minister for the economy, the chairman of National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) and the coordinating minister for political, defense and security affairs.

He was commenting on the remarks made by Pertamina?s executive Sjahrial Daud that the government had considered to build a pipeline to channel gas from Natuna to Arun in Aceh, which is about 1,300 kilometers away by 2010.

On Thursday, Bloomberg quoted Daud as saying that the Natuna-Aceh pipeline project aimed to keep the country?s No 2 natural gas plant, PT Arun NGL, going as near by reserves ran out.

?Gas is depleting at Arun while the plant can last for years ahead,? said Daud, senior coordinator for Pertamina?s LNG development. ?We have six trains (production lines) and not enough gas.?

Meanwhile, an expert assistant to the minister of energy and mineral resources, Kardaya Warnika, said on Friday it would be better for Pertamina to use tankers for transporting gas from Natuna to Aceh because of the great distance between the two places.

Pipelines were more suitable if the two places were less than 1,000 kilometers away, Warnika told Petromindo.com. (godang/robert)