Indonesian state energy company Pertamina plans to breakbulk an LNG cargo shipped into its Arun LNG regasification facility this week as it expands the offerings at its rejuvenated historic plant.
Speaking to TradeWinds at the LNG2019 meeting in Shanghai, Pertamina senior process engineer Nuranti Gunawan said the company received a shipment from Australia’s Wheatstone LNG project on Tuesday for its new hub business at the plant.
The 145,000-cbm cargo was delivered onboard the 149,700-cbm Grace Barleria (built 2007).
“The LNG will be stored in the LNG storage tank of Arun then later on it will be ‘breakbulked’ into smaller vessels for distributed to the customer,” Nuranti said.
The cargo is owned by PPT International Trading in Singapore in which Pertamina holds a 50% share, Pertamina production planning assistant manager Ziyad Auliy said.
The start of the planned breakbulk operations is still under discussion but could get underway around the middle of this year.
Nuranti explained that Pertamina has separated its four tanks at Arun. Two will remain for the existing regasification facility with the other pair now to be dedicated to the plant’s new hub activities.
In a presentation at the conference, she told delegates that aside from its new hub and breakbulk activities, Arun will be used as a cool-down facility for LNG carriers.
In the longer term, Pertamina plans to make LNG bunkering available at the plant.
The Arun LNG plant, in northern Sumatra, started life as a liquefaction terminal.
But after 40 years in operation, the feed gas reserves that supplied the plant became depleted and Pertamina opted to close the plant in 2014.
The following year Pertamina reopened the plant as a three million tonne per annum regasification facility, which supplies gas to electricity supplier PLN’s power plants in northern Aceh.
It is now operated by company subsidiary Perta Arun Gas.
