PGN secures additional gas supply for industrial customers

State owned gas distributor PT PGN said on Wednesday that it had secured an additional 10 million cubic per day (MMCFCD) of gas supplies for its industrial customers following its move to cut gas supplies for state owned electricity PT PLN.

?PGN will get an additional 10 MMCFD of natural gas for industrial customers as the result of a reduction of gas supplies to PLN?s power plants,? PGN president director WMP Simanjuntak said after a meeting with Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro and Minister of Industry Andung Nitimihardja.

Simanjuntak said PGN and PLN would hold negotiations to formulate the compensation that PLN would get for its willingness to get lower gas supplies. The negotiations are expected to be concluded in the middle of this month.

The government has pushed PGN to cut down supplies to PLN in order to help industries in Java, which have been using more gas following the increase in fuel prices.

According to Simanjuntak, the additional gas will be sufficient to cover the needs of its industrial customers in Java island for one year.

Aside from PLN, PGN will get additional gas supplies from small fields, Simanjuntak added.

?PGN will get another 10 MMSCFD from each Lapindo and Rancak fields in East Java by the end of this year,? Simanjutak said.

Separately, Minister Andung said the additional of gas supply from PLN should be allocated optimally to such as ceramic or glass factories which unable to switch its fuel to others. (godang)