PIM still unable to get gas supply from ExxonMobil

State owned fertilizer company PT Pupuk Iskandar Muda in Aceh is still unable to get a gas supply from ExxonMobil Oil because the latter?s gas production is only enough to meet the need of PT Arun Natural Gas Liquefaction, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Thursday.

Effendi Situmorang, the director for Pertamina?s production sharing department, said in Jakarta on Wednesday that the gas supply to the fertilizer company could only be resumed on November, awaiting ExxonMobil to operate at its full capacity.

?If the supply is short-term, Exxon might be able to fulfill it. But it could create another problem. If PIM receive the gas supply, other fertilizer company PT Asean Aceh Fertilizer will demand the same thing,? he said, adding that to resume the gas supply to the two fertilizer companies would be difficult at present.

According to him, ExxonMobil is working on a priority to help the Arun LNG plant meet its export commitment with its Korean and Japanese buyers.

The oil demand of PT PIM and PT AAF, each with production capacity of 60,000 tons of fertilizer per month, reaches 60 million metric standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD).

The production of ExxonMobil in normal condition reaches 1.65 billion standard cubic feet per day (BSCFD), while the gas needs of the Arun LNG plants are about 1.4 BSCFD. In a normal condition, the surplus of the gas production is more than enough to fee the two fertilizer plants.

After being delayed for several times, PT ExxonMobil Indonesia finally resumed the operation of its gas fields in the troubled province of Aceh in the middle of July.

The American oil and gas giant ExxonMobil Indonesia closed the operation of its gas fields in Arun in early March due to security reasons. As the consequence, several companies, including the Arun LNG plant and the two fertilizer producers, which relied on gas supply from the company, was also forced to shut down their operation.(*)