South Sumatra to use gas for cars and industries beginning 2006

The provincial administration of South Sumatra will speed up its program to use gas for cars and industries next year instead of in 2009 as initially planned, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Monday.

South Sumatra's governor Syahrial Oesman said in Palembang on Saturday that the local government initially planned to use gas as the fuel for vehicles, industries and households in 2009. "But the continued decline in the oil fuel recently has led us to speed up the program to 2006, instead of 2009," he was quoted as saying.

He said that a number of preparations were now being made so that the people would be able to use gas for private cars and public transportations, in addition to industries and households in 2006. "With such a program, the people will no longer rely on oil fuel," he added.

South Sumatra is one of the country's largest gas producers. The province, which has estimated gas reserves of about 7.03 trillion cubic meters, produces about 249 million MMBTUs at present or about nine percent of the country's gas production. (*)