Terang Sirasun field may solve gas shortage in East Java

The development of the Terang Sirasun gas field will be economically more feasible in coping with the shortage of gas supply in East Java province, according to the state owned oil and gas company.

Pertamina?s director for production sharing management, Effendi Situmorang, said in Jakarta on Monday that rather than waiting for the supplies from other oil and gas contractors, or development of a gas pipeline to get gas from Kalimantan, the development of Terang Sirasun field would be economically more viable.

As reported earlier, the gas supply in East Java has continued to worsen lately due to a decline in the gas production from BP?s Pagerungan gas field in the Kangean block in the province. BP, which has been given exclusive rights to produce and distribute gas in East Java, has seen its gas production depleting much earlier than it expected.

The gas production from the company?s Pagerungan field has dropped to between 300 million cubic feet per day to 240 million cubic feet per day. This has caused a sharp decline in the gas supply to both household and industrial users in the province, which need gas supply of at least 600 million cubic feet per day.

BP has said that it is able to increase the gas production to 600 million cubic feet per day, if the government extends the existing contract to produce gas in its East Java concession area.

Effendi said that he did not know whether the contract awarded to BP to produce gas in East Java would be extended. "It is up to the government," he said.

But for Pertamina. the best solution in coping with the gas shortage in East Java is to develop the Terang Sirasun field, he added.(*)