PLN, Petronas to sign gas supply contract from Muriah block next week

State-owned electricity firm PT PLN expects to be able to sign a sales and purchase agreement with Petronas Carigali next week, in which the latter will supply gas from Kepodang field to the Tambak Lorok power plant.

“We hoped that the agreement with Petronas could be signed on May 16,” PLN director Ali Herman Ibrahim said Wednesday without providing further details on the agreement.

Ali said that Petronas would build a 200-kilometer gas pipeline linking the Kepodang field and the Tambak Lorok power plant.

The Muriah block offshore Central Java, where Kepodang field is located, is operated by Petronas Carigali with a 100 percent working interest. Meanwhile, the 1,058 megawatt Tambak Lorok power plant is located in Semarang city.

In July 2003, former operator BP and PLN signed a heads of agreement on similar gas supply agreement with a capacity of 140 million cubic feet per day from the field for a 12-year period starting from 2006.

Meanwhile, deputy head of planning at oil and gas upstream authority BPMIGAS Zanial Achmad said Wednesday BPMIGAS had submitted a plan of development (POD) for Kepodang field to Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources for approval.

According to Zanial, Kepodang field contains an estimated recoverable gas reserves of 365 billion standard cubic feet (BSCF). Under the POD, the operator will drill a total of about 10 development wells at the field. (godang)