The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s director general for oil and gas, Djoko Siswanto, hopes that the new gas balance can help stakeholders in the sector fulfill the demand for natural gas in the country.

“With the projection of surplus and shortage in all regions, we hope that the regions experiencing a deficit can be supplied by regions experiencing a surplus,” he said.

Djoko further said the new gas balance would separate the retail and non-retail sectors, and would have three different calculations for future gas demands to accommodate state-electricity firm PLN’s business plan for its gas-based power plants.

“We corrected [the gas balance] slightly to separate retail and non-retail [demands], but the volume [of gas] is still the same,” he said, adding that the non-retail sector consumes a high volume of gas, such as the steel, cement and ceramic industries.

However, Djoko did not disclose the exact date of when the new gas balance would be published, only saying the government first needed to integrate the gas balance with data on existing gas infrastructure.

The new gas balance will map supply and demand in six regions across the country.

Previously, Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arcandra Tahar said the country was not experiencing a gas deficit — only a shortage in several regions.

He said the issuance of the new gas balance had been delayed for three months from the initial target of the first quarter of the year.

The new gas balance will be set at a period of 10 years from 2018 to 2027, which is a revision of the existing 2017 to 2035 gas balance. The revision is needed as the government has to readjust to new gas supplies as a result of development in some gas fields, such as the Jambaran Tiung Biru gas field in Bojonegoro, East Java, and the Jangkrik gas field in East Kalimantan.

The revision also came as an answer and a mitigation plan following the unexpected oversupply of gas in 2016 amid slowing domestic demand, which was partly caused by the government’s poor planning in arranging the country’s gas balance.

According to data compiled by state gas subholding PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN), the actual gas demand in 2016, including for domestic and export markets, stood at only 6,676 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd), far below the projected 8,072 mmscfd stated in the government’s gas balance.

Previously, the House of Representatives’ Commission VII, which oversees energy, held a meeting with state oil and gas holdings Pertamina and PGN to discuss the fate of an LNG (liquefied natural gas) regasification project in Bojonegara located in Banten, which was canceled due to slowing gas demand.

“Therefore, we urge the government to publish detailed information on national gas supply and demand so we don’t give false hope [to investors],” said then-deputy chairman of Commission VII Herman Khaeron during the meeting earlier this month.

Jakarta-based mining research group ReforMiner Institute executive director Komaidi Notonegoro lauded the government’s effort to draft and publish a new gas balance, but stressed that the work did not stop there as the government would need to ensure the validity of data and routinely update it.

“It is better for the government to update it every semester as it [the gas balance] works like a map or guidebook [for gas stakeholders]. However, the government must not forget to work hard in improving gas infrastructure because without it, the price of gas would continue to be expensive,” he said recently.

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