PLN calls for resumption of the Sengkang gas production

State electricity company Pertamina has formally asked for the resumption of the operation of PT Energy Equity Epic Sengkang?s gas production facilities in Sulawesi to enable the power plant there to resume its operation.

Local residents occupied the gas production facilities last week as the oil and gas regulatory body BPMIGAS turned down their demand to get compensation from the operation of the gas field.

The protests caused the local government to close the gas production facilities. The Sengkang power plant, which provides about 70 percent of the power supply in South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi and North Sulawesi, shut down its operation due to the absence of the gas supply.

The Sengkang gas block, operated by Energy Equity Epic Sengkang, is the only gas supplier of the power plant which is owned by PT Energi Sengkang. Both companies are subsdiaries Energy World Corporation (EWC) of Australia.

BPMIGAS said that it had dispatched workers to the gas production facilities to prepare for the resumption of the operation. ?The gas facilities will be reopened after we received a security guarantee from the local police,? said BPMIGAS spokesman Agus Suryono. (*)