Cisem II Project Officially Begins, Government Targets To Be Completed In 18 Months

PGN Gas Pipe (Photo: PGN)

JAKARTA - The Cirebon-Semarang (Cisem) Phase II natural gas transmission pipeline construction project (Batang-Cirebon-Kandang Haur section) along 245 KM officially began, after the initial welding witnessed by the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Bahlil Lahadalia on Monday 30 September.

The government targets that the Phase II Cisem project will be completed in 18 months, so that it will be completed in the first quarter of 2026.

Plt. Director General of Oil and Gas Dadan Kusdiana revealed that the project is one of the National Strategic Projects stipulated in Presidential Regulation Number 3 of 2016 and the latest amendment to Presidential Regulation Number 109 of 2020 with the aim of supporting the strengthening of sustainable national energy infrastructure, as well as creating efficiency in natural gas distribution to support national economic growth.

"One of the main benefits of this project is to provide increasingly affordable natural gas prices in a sustainable manner, both for the commercial and industrial sectors and we will expand it later for households," said Dadan, quoted on Wednesday, October 2.

Dadan said the Phase II Cisem Project would complement the Phase I Cisem with a length of 60 km which was completed in 2023 and was already operating to supply natural gas needs in the Kendal Industrial Estate as of November 17, 2023, and the Batang Industrial Estate as of July 27, 2024.

Dadan further added that the Rp2.7 trillion project from the APBN had already been agreed at first to use a local component of a minimum of 60 percent, in the hope that it would provide benefits and added value for the growth of the domestic industry.

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources is currently preparing to build a Dumai-Sei Mangke gas pipeline in northern Sumatra. If the project is completed, it will increase the use of domestic gas, because it is connected from East Java to Sumatra.

It is estimated that there will be an additional 300 thousand recipients of the city gas network (jargas) in Cisem with 600,000 household connections (SR) and Dumai-Sei Mangke with 600 thousand SR. From this figure, it will reduce 3 kg LPG subsidies by Rp630 billion per year, and will save LPG import foreign exchange by Rp1.08 trillion per year.