Repairs at block to cost PLN 100 bbtud of gas

JAKARTA: State electricity firm PT PLN said on Monday that it might lose 100 billion British thermal units per day (bbtud) of natural gas supply from the Offshore North West Java (ONWJ) block due to maintenance work in mid October.

Senior manager for oil and gas procurement M. Suryadi Mardjoeki said that PLN’s two gas-fired power plants, Muara Tawar in West Java and Muara Karang in North Jakarta, usually received 130 bbtud of gas in total. However, due to the shutdown, which would take place between Oct. 17-30, the supply was estimated to fall to only 30 bbtud, he added.

“To keep generating electricity, we have to burn oil-based fuel. So, temporarily, our operational costs at the two power plants will soar,” he told reporters in a telephone interview.

Suryadi said that for every 1 bbtud decline in gas supply, PLN had to burn 28,000 liters of oil-based fuel to produce the same amount of power. Therefore, PLN would have to burn 39,200 kiloliters of fuel during the maintenance work.

Australia-based Santos would also conduct maintenance work in November to repair its rigs in Maleo field, off East Java, upstream oil and gas regulator BPMigas’ spokesman Gde Pradnyana said.