Pertamina says gas supply to Aceh firms to resume mid-December

State oil and gas firm Pertamina said Tuesday US oil and gas giant ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia (EMOI) would resume natural gas supply to fertilizer firm PT ASEAN Aceh Fertilizer (AAF) and paper mill PT Kertas Kraft Aceh (KKA) in mid-December this year after EMOI resumed full gas operations.

Pertamina?s upstream director Effendi Situmorang told reporters that currently EMOI?s gas fields, had so far managed to produce 1.3 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day. Normally, ExxonMobil?s Aceh gas fields produce some 1.6 BCF of gas per day.

He predicted ExxonMobil?s Aceh gas operations would be able to return to normal production capacity mid-December 2001 as repair works in Pase A block and South Lhok Sukon gas fields had been showing progress.

?Until then, we have to dedicate most of gas production to Arun natural gas liquefaction (NGL) to meet Pertamina?s contractual obligation to supply LNG to Kore and Japan. Some 55 million standard cubic feet per day had also been supplied to fertilizer firm PT Pupuk Iskandar Muda,? he said.

AAF and KKA, whose operations depend wholly on EMOI?s gas supply, halted operations in March after EMOI stopped gas operations in Aceh due to security concerns. (godang)