PT Arun?s 60 MW power plant idle due to lack of gas supply

A 60 MW power plant owned by PT Arun NGL in Lhok Seumawe, Nangroe Aceh Darussalam, has been idle since 1999 due to the lack of gas supply and the power plant will remain inactive within the next few years because of the same reason, Kompas daily reported on Saturday.

The plant was built in 1998 to provide a power supply to PT Arun?s liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) processing unit. However, the shortage of the gas supply forced the company to halt its LPG production, leaving the 30 x 20 MW power plant to remain inactive until now.

Public utility PLN?s president Eddie Widiono, who accompanied Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro during his inspection tour to Arun NGL on Friday, said that it would be difficult for the power plant to get gas supply because, under the long term contracts, PT ExxonMobil Indonesia must first supply PT Arun NGL and two fertilizer plants in the province. ExxonMobil, the only gas producer in the area, has seen its gas reserves in the area declining over the past several years.

Eddie said that PLN had installed power transmission facilities to connect the power plant with the company?s power distribution network in a bid to cope with the shortage of power supply in the province.

The lack of the gas supply, however, made all the transmission facilities useless. (*)