Indonesia Gives In Principle Nod to Tangguh LNG Expansion

Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and oil and gas executive agency BPMIGAS have approved in principle the Plan of Further Development (POFD) for the expansion of the BP-operated Tangguh liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Papua Barat province in eastern Indonesia, BP said in a statement. 

The approval was announced Thursday by UK Prime Minister David Cameron in London after a bilateral meeting with Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, attended by BP Group Chief Executive, Bob Dudley, and BP Regional President Asia Pacific, William Lin. 

The total investment in Train 3 by Tangguh project partners is currently estimated to be up to $12 billion. 

The planned expansion will build on the established operation of the two existing liquefaction trains at the Tangguh LNG site. Train 3 is expected to add 3.8 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) liquefaction capacity to Tangguh, bringing total project capacity to 11.4 mtpa. 

Under the terms of the plan, BP and its partners have agreed to sell and supply 40 per cent of the LNG output from Train 3 to Indonesia’s state electricity company PT.PLN (Persero) for the Indonesian domestic market. 

In addition, as part of the plan up to 15 million standard cubic feet a day of piped gas, supplied from the Tangguh fields and sufficient to generate up to 50MW of local power, would be allocated for sale from the date of the Train 3 start-up.