The central government and nine regional administrations have agreed to boost gas distribution for household use.  

The agreement was signed on Wednesday by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s oil and gas director general, IGN Wiratmaja Puja, and representatives of Banyuasin, Penukal Abab Lematang Ilir and Muara Enim in South Sumatra, Bandar Lampung in Lampung, Mojokerto in East Java, Pekanbaru in Riau, Samarinda and Bontang in Eat Kalimantan as well as Jakarta.

The agreement is expected to improve household gas distribution through the development of infrastructure and the arrangement of non-technical factors.

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“There is a lot of gas [in these regions]. All this time, we have been buying gas from Qatar and Saudi Arabia to be distributed to the people even in Bontang, Muara Enim and other regions that has rich of has,” Wiratmaja said after the signing the agreement.

“With our gas network program, we will no longer have to import liquefied petroleum gas [LPG] as we can use local gas (CNG) that is lower in price.”

The government has built gas piping to 185,991 households in 14 provinces since 2009.

State-owned energy company Pertamina and state-owned gas company Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) have signed an agreement to build more pipelines in the nine regions involved in Wednesday’s agreement.

Some 60,000 more households will have access to the gas networks this year, Wiratmaja added.  (bbn)

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