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Indonesia Liquefied Natural Gas
Indonesia was the world's largest producer and exporter
of
liquefied natural gas. Two major facilities, P.T. Arun at
Lhokseumawe, Special Region of Aceh, and P.T. Badak, in
Bontang,
Kalimantan Timur Province, condensed natural gas through
refrigeration to one-six hundredth of its volume for
shipment in
tankers. Both facilities were built in the late 1970s
under supply
contracts to Japan, although excess production was shipped
to other
destinations. After several expansions, the total capacity
had
reached 22.6 million tons per year by 1990. Exports of
liquefied
natural gas in 1990 were 20.6 million tons, valued at
US$3.7
billion.
Although most of Indonesia's natural gas was supplied
to
liquefying plants for export in the early 1990s, about 20
percent
was used for domestic consumption, primarily in fertilizer
plants,
where it was processed into ammonia and urea. Natural gas
reserves
were estimated in 1990 at 67.5 trillion standard cubic
feet of
proven reserves and 12 trillion standard cubic feet of
probable
reserves. Growing domestic and export demand encouraged
plans for
the development of the Natuna gas field, the nation's
largest
field, located in the South China Sea northeast of the
Natuna
Islands. The high carbon dioxide content of this field had
previously deterred investment, but Esso Indonesia
indicated
willingness to invest US$12 billion to $US15 billion to
treat and
market the gas. Pertamina authorized further negotiations
with Esso
after reviewing the proposal in 1991.
Data as of November 1992
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