Pertamina to certify E. Java gas reserve next year

State owned oil, gas firm Pertamina on Tuesday said it would certify its onshore East Java gas reserve in Suci structure sometime in mid-2002 in its effort to tap the ever growing East Java gas market, according to the company?s senior official.

?Pertamina initially planned to certify the reserve this year but the plan was delayed due to delineation drilling completion delay in the prospect,? said Iin Arifin Takhyan, Pertamina?s upstream director.

Earlier, Iin said that Pertamina would hope to certify some 400 billion cubic feet of gas from Suci structure.

He said Pertamina would likely appoint state oil, gas consultant Lemigas to carry out the certification.

Iin said Pertamina had held talks with East Java state fertilizer company PT Petrokimia Gresik to supply gas to the latter starting from 30 million standard cubic feet per day.

Separately, Pertamina?s gas business manager Mulyani Wahyono said the gas project was expected to become on stream as early as 2005. (alex/godang)