Petrogres wants alternative gas swap price
Thursday, December 7 2006 - 02:45 AM WIB
Petrogres? director for marketing Bambang Cahyono said in Jakarta Wednesday that the company has proposed an alternative price of gas swap from PLN?s unit of Java-Bali through off take gas, with the purchasing price from PLN at US$3.4 per million british thermal unit (MMBTU). ?In this way, the average cost that Petrogres has to pay is only US$3.24 MMBTU,? he said.
?We hope that an agreement on the alternative gas swap price will be reached and receive support from the government, especially from the Ministry of State Enterprises,? he said.
Petrogres has halted its operation due to the lack of gas supply as a result of the explosion of gas pipeline in Porong, Sidoarjo, East Java recently.
On December 2, 2006, the company made an agreement on the channeling of gas through gas swap mechanism involving state gas distributor company Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) and PLN in its efforts to restore the gas supply, which will help the company resume its operation.
Bambang said that under the agreement, PLN?s Java-Bali power unit (ex-Kodeco), PGN (ex-Lapindo Brantas) and Petrogres (ex-Kodeco) will channel gas to Petrogres as much as 27 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD), 15 MMCFD and 7 MMCFD respectively.
According to Bambang, the gas price proposed by PLN?s unit of Java-Bali is at US$16.09 per MMBTU, which is calculated on the basis of an exchange of the gas price with the cost of diesel oil, the amount of which is equivalent to the amount of gas. ?The gas price is too high,? he said.
Meanwhile, he said that the assumed gas price proposed by PGN and Petrogres (ex-Kodeco) is only US$2.8 per MMBTU and US$3.60 per MMBTU. (*)