PT Arun NGL dismisses 230 workers as gas supply declines

Aceh-based liquefied natural gas producer PT Arun NGL has laid off 230 of its workers since early January due to a continued decline in the supply of natural gas from Exxon Mobil Inc, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Wednesday.

Rustam Effendy, the spokesman for the LNG producer, said in Lhokseumawe on Tuesday that the gas supply from Exxon Mobil was no longer enough to meet the gas need of the company?s six LNG liquefaction plants.

He said that the layoff measure was carried out according to the existing manpower regulation so that none of the dismissed workers would suffer due to the layoff. "It is really a bitter pill for the company but we did not have choices but to lay off part of the workers," he added.

According to Rustam, the dismissed workers receive severance payment of between Rp 150 million to Rp1.3 billion. The workers were also offered to work at the company?s overseas LNG plants in Qatar and also in its oil operations both at home and overseas before taking the lay-off measure.

He said that PT Arun NGL only operates four of its six LNG trains due to the decline in the natural gas supply. (*)