BP says to temporarily shut Indonesia LNG plant
Indonesia's Tangguh liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Papua will be temporarily shut in August to resolve problems since its start-up earlier this year, an official at BP Indonesia said on Monday.
Tangguh, with a capacity to produce 7.6 million tonnes per year (tpy) via two trains, sent one LNG cargoe to South Korea's POSCO and one to China's Fujian terminal last month.
"We are planning to temporarily shut down Tangguh Train 1 to rectify a number of initial problems identified during the start up phase of the plant," Nico Kanter, BP Indonesia head of country, told Reuters in an email without giving details.
"It is not unusual for the start up of a plant to show up a number issues such as this. The work is expected to last for a number of weeks," he said.
Another BP Indonesia official, who declined to be identified, said the planned shut down would have an impact on LNG production but also did not elaborate.
The BP-led project in Indonesia's Papua plans to ship 56 cargoes of LNG this year, an official of energy watchdog, BPMIGAS, said last month.
The cargoes are due to be sent to Fujian, POSCO, South Korea's K-Power, and U.S. firm Sempra Energy .
Tangguh has several foreign supply contracts, including a 2.6 million tpy contract with China National Offshore Oil Corp, or CNOOCThe deal struck with China became a sensitive issue in the run-up to Indonesia's presidential election on July 8, with some politicians saying that the gas price agreed under former president Megawati Sukarnoputri was too low.
There were also some calls ahead of the election for Indonesia to allocate more gas to the domestic market rather than for exports.
U.S. firm Sempra Energy also has a 20-year contract to lift 3.6 million tpy with the right to divert half to customers other than its own terminal in Mexico.
Indonesia, the world's third-biggest LNG exporter, has been counting on Tangguh to help make up for declining production at other projects.
Tangguh, with a capacity to produce 7.6 million tonnes per year (tpy) via two trains, sent one LNG cargoe to South Korea's POSCO and one to China's Fujian terminal last month.
"We are planning to temporarily shut down Tangguh Train 1 to rectify a number of initial problems identified during the start up phase of the plant," Nico Kanter, BP Indonesia head of country, told Reuters in an email without giving details.
"It is not unusual for the start up of a plant to show up a number issues such as this. The work is expected to last for a number of weeks," he said.
Another BP Indonesia official, who declined to be identified, said the planned shut down would have an impact on LNG production but also did not elaborate.
The BP-led project in Indonesia's Papua plans to ship 56 cargoes of LNG this year, an official of energy watchdog, BPMIGAS, said last month.
The cargoes are due to be sent to Fujian, POSCO, South Korea's K-Power, and U.S. firm Sempra Energy .
Tangguh has several foreign supply contracts, including a 2.6 million tpy contract with China National Offshore Oil Corp, or CNOOCThe deal struck with China became a sensitive issue in the run-up to Indonesia's presidential election on July 8, with some politicians saying that the gas price agreed under former president Megawati Sukarnoputri was too low.
There were also some calls ahead of the election for Indonesia to allocate more gas to the domestic market rather than for exports.
U.S. firm Sempra Energy also has a 20-year contract to lift 3.6 million tpy with the right to divert half to customers other than its own terminal in Mexico.
Indonesia, the world's third-biggest LNG exporter, has been counting on Tangguh to help make up for declining production at other projects.