Indonesia’s Panbil Group eyes LNG import facility at Karimun

SINGAPORE – Indonesia’s Panbil Group is conducting a feasibility study on building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal on Karimun Island of the Riau province in the next five years, a company executive said.

The proposal comes at a time when Asia’s spot LNG prices <LNG-AS> have hit multi-year lows this year as the coronavirus pandemic depressed demand for the power fuel.

The proposed terminal could cost $600 million to $800 million and would be located at Pulau Asam, which is about 33-kilometres away from Singapore’s oil and gas hub Jurong, Executive Director Patrick Aritonang told Reuters.

“We wanted to propose certain options to accommodate our energy security,” he said, as Indonesia is forecast to be short on natural gas in the next decade while the government has set targets to build more gas-fired power plants.

capacity of the terminal, he said, adding that it would also look at the economics of building a 55-km pipeline to supply gas to PT Trans Gas Indonesia (PGI).

The terminal could have a storage capacity of up to 170,000 cubic metres, which would be used for refuelling ships and breaking up big cargoes into smaller ones to be distributed in the region, Aritonang said.

Prospective gas supply sources include Indonesia’s Tangguh Train 3, PT Donggi Senoro, and Cheniere Energy’s <LNG.A> Corpus Christi terminal, Aritonang said.

The study is expected to be completed by end-2020 while the terminal would take about three years to build.

Panbil operates an industrial estate in Batam, which houses a 60-megawatt gas-fired power plant. REUTERS

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