Acting Energy Minister Hatta Rajasa who is also chief economic minister said at a working meeting with House Commission VII here on Wednesday, a team to renegotiate Indonesia`s gas export contracts with Singapore had already started working.
"I have asked the team to accomplish a halt to additional gas exports to Singapore," he said.
He said gas exports to Singapore had been too voluminous while there was a shortage in supply for domestic needs.
Hatta denied he had permitted additional gas exports to Singapore at the expense of state-owned electricity company PT PLN.
"It is not true that a limited coordination meeting of the office of the coordinating minister for the economy has decided to supply 100 BBTUD to Singapore," he said.
The director general of oil and gas at the energy and mineral resources ministry, Evita Legowo, confirmed Hatta`s statement saying "there was no decision to allow additional gas exports to Singapore. What was agreed on was additional gas supply to increase Chevron`s production (PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia)."
Evita said she had also studied the possibility of reducing gas exports to Singapore but she declined to disclose the results of the study.
She said she had asked Singapore to lend some of the gas to which it was contractually entitled to Indonesia for some time. "We are studying the possibility of reducing or temporarily borrowing gas based on the existing contract with Singapore," she said.
In March 2010 through a limited coordination meeting presided over by Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Hatta Rajasa the government decided to reduce gas supplies from PT PGN Tbk. to PLTGU Muara Tawar belonging to PLN from 200 billion british thermal units (BBTUD) to 100 BBTUD.
The decision, according to PT PGN, was made due to a drop in gas supply from gas producer ConocoPhillips to PGN after the government decided to shift it to Chevron to increase oil production and gas exports to Singapore.
In January 2010 ConocoPhillips supply to PGN was still recorded at 378 BBTUD but in February it dropped to 320 BBTUD and in March to 295 BBTUD.
As a result of the decrease in gas supply from Conoco, PGN was planning to cut its gas supply to all industries including PT PLN by 20 percent.
The government, however, chose to reduce gas supply to PLN rather than to industries because reduction of supply to industries could cause immeasurable damage in the social and economic sectors.
(T.K007/Uu.H-YH/HAJM/S012)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
