RI will discuss rescheduling of LNG shipment to Korea

The government will soon send a team to South Korea and Japan to discuss the possible rescheduling of liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipment to the country due to the shortage of gas supply to the Bontang LNG plant in East Kalimantan, Neraca reported on Friday.

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said in Jakarta on Thursday that the gas supply to the Bontang LNG plant had dropped drastically during the past several months due to the decline in the gas reserves in the Ataka gas field.

Purnomo said that a fire, which burned the Ataka field recently, had further worsened the gas production level in the field, the main gas supplier of the Bontang LNG plant. ?We therefore have to talk to our main buyers Korea and Japan on how to resolve the problem,? he said.

The minister, however, said the decline in the gas supply would not affect the future production of the Bontang LNG plant because the government had found a new gas field in East Kalimantan that could compensate the decline in the gas supply from the Ataka field.

Indonesia?s other LNG producer PT Arun Natural Gas Liquefaction in Aceh also suffered a shortage of gas supply. Although the company has stopped the LNG supply to local buyers such as fertilizer producers, it is still unable to meet its export commitment. As the result, Pertamina had to buy from international spot market to meet the export commitment to South Korea. (*)