PGN to build $600m SSRV this year

State-owned gas company PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) plans to build a US$600 million Shuttle Storage Receiving Vessel (SSRV) this year in order to ease gas shortage in North Sumatra.

 

To support the plan, PGN will buy a used tanker having a capacity of 100-150 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD), which would be modified with re-gasification pipeline.

 

Company President Director Sutikno said last week that the building of SSRV aims at fulfilling the demand for gas in North Sumatra as the Duri-Medan transmission project remains in limbo due to the lack of gas supplies.

 

“Supply to the SSRV would be obtained from spot market because the process is faster and local consumers would purchase at a price of US$7-8 per MMBTU”, said Sutikno.

He said despite the plan to build the SSRV, PGN remains committed to build a gas pipeline linking Dumai in Riau to Medan, adding that the company is negotiating with ConocoPhillips, Kondur Petroleum and Hess to provide gas as much as 300 MMCFD to the transmission facility.

 

North Sumatra is experiencing a gas deficit amounting to 400 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) and the deficit is expected to get worse in the coming years unless there is an effective measure to solve the problem, Director General of Oil and Gas at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Luluk Sumiarso said on May 11. (*)