PLN?s gas consumption rising

By Godang Sitompul

State owned electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) said on Wednesday its gas consumption for this year is projected to reach 400 trillion British thermal unit (tbtu) this year, up from 364 tbtu last year.

According to Suryadi Mardjoeki, Head of Gas and Oil Fuels at PLN, the firm?s consumption of gas reached 338 tbtu or 1,120 bbtud, which is equal to 12 cargoes of LNG per month, as of October this year.

?Had we used high speed diesel (HSD) rather than gas, we should have spent an additional US$5 billion in fuel costs. Thus, we have saved such an amount of money thanks to the use of gas rather than HSD.

?It is thus not true that PLN loves to use oil fuels. Our dream is to replace all HSD with gas,? he said.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon