Pertamina sets up gas subsidiary

State owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina has set up a subsidiary Petra Gas to run its gas distribution and transmission business.

Pertamina?s vice president Iin Arifin Takhyan said on Wednesday that the subsidiary would be engaged in various aspects of gas business including gas trading, building pipelines for lease, gas transportation, gas processing, producing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and building LNG terminal

?We already have assets, such as the gas pipeline from Kangean to East Java, the pipeline in North Sumatra that transmits gas to the Belawan combined cycle power plant, and in Kalimantan,? he said.

The new subsidiary will also handle the development of LPG plant in South Sumatra.

He noted that Pertamina first delivered natural gas to state owned fertilizer firm PT Pusri in South Sumatra in 1978. Now, the firm accounts for 33 percent of gas supplies to domestic market with a total volume of 1100 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD).

Pertamina will also deliver gas from its fields in South Sumatra to West Java through the pipeline owned by state owned gas distribution and transmission company PT PGN starting this year. (Godang)