PGN's Sumatra-Java pipeline scheduled for operation in 2006

State owned gas distribution company PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) has expressed optimism that its South Sumatera-West Java pipeline project will be able to begin operation during the second semester of 2006, Neraca daily reported on Thursday.

PGN's financial director Djoko Purnomo said on Wednesday that the gas pipeline which would transmit gas from the Conocco Phillips' gas fields in South Sumatra to PGN's gas receiving terminal in Karawang, West Java, would be able to increase the company's gas sales volume to 950 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD), three-folds compared to this year's sales volume.

"We are optimistic the target could be achieved because at least 70 percent of the gas to be transmitted through the pipeline have been sold," he told a number of security analysts who visited the pipeline project in Lampung on Wednesday.

According to him, the US$1 billion pipeline project will have a capacity to transmit 650 MMSCFD of gas to the company's buyers in West Java. About 70 percent of the gas or about 450 MMCFD have been sold to about 82 companies during the launch of the gas sales from the new pipeline last month.

"With more than 200 companies in the waiting list, we are optimistic that all of the gas from the pipeline could be absorbed by the market when the pipeline is in full operation in 2006," he added. (*)