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AKARTA: State electricity firm PT PLN will get its long-awaited gas supply from the Grissik field in South Sumatra this month after finalizing several terms on price, PLN’s senior official reported on Thursday.

“The gas should be channeled starting this month or in September at the latest,” said PLN senior manager for oil and gas procurement M. Suryadi Mardjoeki.

The gas will be delivered by US-based ConocoPhillips from the Grissik field through a swap mechanism. The swap mechanism means that PLN will get the gas supply from Grissik, while ConocoPhillips’s consumers in Batam and Singapore will get gas from the Jambi Merang field in the neighboring province of Jambi which was previously allocated for PLN.

“In the last meeting with related parties, we have expressed our readiness to pay 0.5 US cents per million British thermal unit [mmbtu] for the swap cost,” Suryadi explained.

The gas will be delivered through the South Sumatra-West Java (SSWJ) pipeline network which is owned by state gas distributor PT PGN. The Muara Tawar power plant in Bekasi, West Java, will receive the gas supply.

According to a 2006 contract, PLN was scheduled to acquire additional supply of 65 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) from the Jambi Merang field, operated by the Joint Operating Body of PT Pertamina Hulu Energu and Canada-based Talisman.

However, due to the unavailability of a pipeline network connecting the Jambi Merang field with the Grissik field, where the SSWJ pipeline is located, the gas cannot be channeled. The construction of the pipeline is scheduled to be completed in 2014.