S

tate oil and gas firm PT Pertamina will likely go ahead with its plan to build a floating storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) off Central Java, even though the government has decided to relocate the planned FSRU in Belawan, North Sumatra, to Lampung.

The plan has been in limbo since the government decided to allow the company to convert the Arun liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Arun, Aceh, into a receiving terminal and relocate the planned Belawan FSRU to Lampung.

The project will be relocated because the former Arun LNG plant will replace the Belawan FSRU to provide gas for northern Sumatra.

Pertamina senior vice president for gas, Nanang Untung, revealed that his company still desired to build the Central Java FSRU because it would be strategic infrastructure for backing gas security and distribution in Java.

“The FSRU will support the operation of the Trans-Java pipeline [which was now under construction by PT Pertamina Gas, a subsidiary of Pertamina],” he said via text message over the weekend.

State power utility PT Perusahaan Gas Negara, one of main users of natural gas in the country, however, said it would need gas supply from the FSRU in the near future. The company estimated that it needs gas supply from the FSRU five years from now because the main buyer, PLN, has already secured additional gas supply for its power plants.

“In the near future, PLN will receive sufficient supply from the Kepodang block, which reaches 116 million standard cubic feet [mmsccfd], the Gundih block, 50 mmscfd, and the Cepu block, 200 mmscfd. We therefore do not need more supply for several years to come,” PLN oil-based fuels and gas division head Suryadi Mardjoeki reported.                  

According to the company’s work plan, Suryadi said, the firm would build a gas-fired power plant with a capacity of 1,500 megawatts (MW) in Central Java. He added that the power plant would be able to absorb around 100 mmscfd of gas from the FSRU.

“It is only 100 mmscfd because the plant will only be used to supply power in peak hours. The peak hours in Central Java are only five hours. We can absorb more if the number of customers in Central Java or East Java increases [thereby] exceeding our expectations,” he said.

As for the Trans-Java pipeline, Suryadi viewed the pipeline as very important because it would not only be used to transport gas for PLN, but also for other buyers.

The Trans-Java pipeline will include a 140-kilometer-long pipeline from the Muara Tawar power plant in Bekasi to Cirebon in West Java, a 255-kilometer-long pipeline from Cirebon to Semarang in Central Java and a 271-kilometer-long pipeline from Semarang to Gresik in East Java.

“In its initial scenario, the pipeline will not only deliver gas from the planned Central Java FSRU, but also from other sources,” Suryadi said.

On the uncertainty of the FSRU’s future, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s oil and gas chief, Evita Herawati Legowo, said her office was now conducting a study to map gas demands across the nation, including in Java.

“PLN says it can absorb it five years from now, but the demands do not only come from PLN. That is why we launched the study before deciding whether we need to build the FSRU or not,” she said.