Pertamina and PLN face delays to plans for receiving terminals

By Tan Hwee Hwee and Amanda Battersby April 4, 2012 what would be the worlds first marine CNG to power project. Indonesias Pertamina and partner state-owned electricity utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) are facing potential delays to their joint development of eight mini- liquefied natural gas receiving terminals and power plants, mostly in the east of the archipelago, writes Tan Hwee Hwee and Amanda Battersby. The duo has plans for eight mini regasification plants, with a combined demand of 1 million tonnes per annum of LNG, that were expected to come into operation this year through 2014, PLNs senior manager of primary energy planning, Chairani Rachmatullah said at the Global LNG Summit. Previously, the amount of LNG required had been put at 1.4 million tpa. However, the $400 million project could be derailed as Pertamina has not yet managed to secure the LNG. The facilities were intended to supply gas to PLN-operated power plants in 10 locations Tanjung Batu, Kaltim, Tello, Jeneponto, Pesanggaran, Batakan, Lombok, Sulut, Halmahera and Kupang, Pertamina earlier said. The national oil company has been tasked with sourcing the LNG while PLNs subsidiaries, led by Indonesia Power, will build the jetty and the power plants, Rachmatullah told Upstream. She said Pertamina is facing challenges in securing the feedstock and this has, in turn, threatened to derail the project schedule for some, if not all, of the planned regasification plants. The company had planned to take LNG from the Bontang LNG project for the Lombok power plant that was scheduled to begin operations in 2013. However, Rachmatullah said PLN is now looking at switching to compressed natural gas to fuel the power facility on Lombok Island, given Pertaminas lack of success in securing LNG from Bontang in East Kalimantan. PLN has commissioned classification society RINA to undertake front-end engineering and design studies on what would be the worlds first marine CNG to power project. Pertamina and PLN may also have to delay the planned start-up of the Pesanggaran regasification plant in Bali to 2020 from 2012, according to Rachmatullah.