Pusri plans to buy Donggi-Senoro gas for new plant

State-owned fertilizer company PT Pusri, based in Palembang, South Sumatra, plans to build a new production plant near the Donggi-Senoro gas project in Central Sulawesi to take advantage of abundant gas reserves there.

Pusri?s President Director Dadang Kodri said in Jakarta on Thursday that gas for the new fertilizer plant would be sourced from the Donggi-Matindok and Senoro-Toili blocks owned by state owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina and PT Medco Energi International..

?We may be able to buy up to 91 million cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) from the two gas fields,? he said, adding that by developing a new power plant near the gas fields, the costs for gas delivery could be significantly cut down. ?By opening the plant there, we don?t need to buy (gas) in the form of LNG,? he added.

He said that the new plant to be built in the area would replace the company?s aging production units in Palembang, most of which are no longer efficient. Besides, gas supplies in South Sumatra are projected to get scarce in the future.

Dadang said that no formal talks had been made with owners of the two gas oil fields.

Pertamina and Medco plan to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Central Sulawesi in cooperation with Japanese company Mitsubishi with gas supplies from the Matindok-Donggi and Senoro-Toili blocks.

The consortium had signed heads of agreement (HoA) with Japanese firms Chubu Electric Power Co. Inc. and Kansai Electric Power Co. to supply each of them with one million ton of LNG per year for 15 years starting end of 2012.

However, the government decided recently that the gas from Matindok and Senoro-Tolli fields should be sold in the domestic market.

A number of local companies including PGN and PLN have expressed interest to buy the LNG from the proposed LNG project, but no firm commitment has been made. They said that the price offered by Pertamina and its partners for the Senoro LNG was too high.

Meanwhile, Director General of Oil and Gas at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Evita Legowo said on Thursday that there were three companies intersted to buy Donggi-Senoro gas, that is PLN, Pusri and PT Panca Amara Utama. The three could absorb 211 MMCFD of gas. They however have yet to reach agreements on price with Pertamina and Medco. (kanti)