Pertamina to lose Rp 130 t potential revenue due to Cilamaya port project
Monday, June 30 2014 - 01:21 AM WIB
The National Development Planning (BAPPENAS) said state owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina will lose Rp 130 trillion in potential revenue from the Offshore North West Java (ONWJ) block as the construction of the Cilamaya seaport project in Karawang, West Java, will disrupt production activities at the block.
"The development of the Cilamaya port project has got a greenlight (from the government). Pertamina is no longer opposed to it, on condition that the government would bear the costs of moving the underwater pipelines (located near the planned port), amounting to approximately Rp 800 billion to 1.2 trillion," Deputy Minister for Infrastructure Affairs at BAPPENAS Deddy S. Priatna told Petromindo.com.
The block is controlled and operated by PHE ONWJ, a subsidiary of state owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina.
He denied that the ONWJ block will be shut down for six months once the development of the project has started, but there will only be "on-off" operation there. However, Deddy added that the revenue opportunity of the Cilamaya port will reach Rp700 trillion.
Meanwhile, Executive VP/GM of PHE ONWJ Jonly Sinulingga said to Petromindo.com, PHE ONWJ that he did not know if the ONWJ block would temporarily be shut down as a result of the project.
"To my knowledge, in the last steering committee meeting, we discussed and requested JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) to make a further study on the possible impact (of the shipping traffic of the port) on the safety of oil and gas assets," he said.
PHE ONWJ has pipelines buried underwater in the areas that have been designated as shipping lanes of the port. The pipeline is used to transmit gas and crude. Pertamina also has underwater pipelines there to transport oil fuels from the Balongan refinery in Indramayu to Jakarta and its surrounding areas. Furthermore, the shipping lanes are also located close to the existing rigs owned by PHE ONWJ, due to which the firm will have to relocate or abandon the right for safety reason.
The government plans to build an international seaport in Cilamaya to reduce load congestion at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta. The development of the project is expected to start next year.
Editing by Johannes Simbolon