PGN Blaklakan Calls Natural Declaration To Infrastructure Still A Challenge

Natural Gas (PGN)

JAKARTA - PT PGN (Persero) Tbk (PGAS) revealed that so far there are three challenges faced by natural gas industry players. These three challenges include gas supply, infrastructure, and price aspects.

Corporate Secretary Fajriyah Usman explained, actually PGN is not a company engaged on the upstream side that can produce gas. For that, he continued, PGN's gas supply is very dependent on production from the Upstream Cooperation Contract Contractor (KKKS). For this reason, if the KKKS suppliers experience challenges such as natural decline, gas supply to PGN will also decrease.

"For example, from the upstream side there is a natural decline, then there are operational plans upstream that are also disrupted, of course it will also affect the existing gas supply," he told the media crew when contacted in Jakarta, Thursday, August 14.

Moreover, continued Fajriyah, not all domestic gas production is managed by PGN. Not only supply, Fajriyah added, PGN also faces other obstacles such as increasing demand from customers. As a result, there will be a mismatch between supply and demand for natural gas.

"Likewise, if there is an increase in demand side from the previous target, there will definitely be an increasing need and a mismatch between supply and demand," explained Fajriyah.

The last challenge, Fajriyah said, was that Pertamina's subsidiary was still hit by natural gas distribution infrastructure which had just been fully connected from Sumatra to Java.

Even though the most potential natural gas resources have recently been found in eastern Indonesia. Thus, Fajriyah said that the availability of infrastructure is a separate homework for PGN.

"Indeed, currently what is quite connected is from Sumatra to Java and most of it is managed by PT PGN. Infrastructure is still in progress to expand our gas networks to other areas," he said.