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Indonesia seeks to produce LPG in Algeria
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Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arcandra Tahar (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
T
he government is seeking to produce liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from assets owned by state-owned energy giant Pertamina in Algeria amid Indonesia’s increasing domestic demand and limited production of the commodity.
At present, Pertamina -- through subsidiary Pertamina Internasional EP (PIEP) -- has participating interests at three oil and gas fields in Algeria, namely at the MLN field with a 65 percent interest, the EMK field with 16.9 percent and the OHD field with 3.73 percent.
Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arcandra Tahar said Pertamina’s assets in Algeria contained LPG, also known as propane (C3) and butane (C4). However, the gas had only been used for internal operations at those fields, specifically the gas injection for reservoir pressure maintenance, he added.
“We’re currently still reviewing whether it’s possible for us to inject C1 [methane gas] to maintain the reservoir pressure instead of using C3 and C4,” Arcandra said on Tuesday. “If we can realize that, we will get additional LPG production from those Algerian fields.”
Through a business-to-business approach, Pertamina is also currently looking to buy LPG directly from Algerian state energy firm Sonatrach.
“We hope Pertamina can buy LPG from Sonatrach at a less-than-average price. The discussion between the two companies has started,” Arcandra said.
Pertamina estimated that its total LPG sales would soar to more than 7.5 million metric tons this year, up from an estimated figure of 7.2 million metric tons last year. About 60 percent of this year’s figure will be met through imports. (bbn)
