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AKARTA: PT Pertamina EP and state fertilizer maker PT Pupuk Kujang have sealed a gas-supply agreement worth US$430.4 million.

Under the agreement, signed on Dec. 29, Pertamina will deliver gas from several fields in Java, predominantly from the western part of the island, to a submission point at the Dawuan metering station in Cikampek, West Java.

The amount of gas that will be channeled is 39 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd), or 70,200 million standard cubic feet (mmscf) of gas for the contract’s duration of five years: Jan. 1, 2012, to Dec. 31, 2016.

Pertamina EP’s president director, Syamsu Alam, said the gas supply was the manifestation of the company’s support to the country’s industrial sector, particularly the fertilizer industry.

“With this agreement and the improvement in the gas selling price, I believe that the efforts to discover more gas will be boosted. I hope that customers can adjust to the new price so that we can accelerate the exploration work to add to Indonesia’s gas reserves,” he said in a press statement.

The company’s gas production has relentlessly increased over the past six years. In 2006, total production was only 869 mmscfd. The amount jumped by 12.7 percent to 980 mmscfd in 2007 and then up again to 1,003 mmscfd in 2008.

In 2009, production reached 1,043 mmscfd, growing 3.9 percent from a year earlier. In 2010 and 2011, production reached 1,054 mmscfd and 1,070 mmscfd, respectively.