GOVT YET TO APPROVE SENORO GAS PRICE

Jakarta, Feb 16 (ANTARA) - Up to now, the government has not yet approved the sales price of gas from Central Sulawesi's Donggi-Senoro gas field, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said.

The minister said here on Monday the price of Donggi-Senoro gas was still being discussed between the seller and the buyer.
"The government had yet to receive the proposed price so that it has not yet given any approval to the price of gas from the Senoro project," the minister said.
Based on regulations, a sale-and-purchase contract between seller and buyer will be effective after the oil and gas regulator, or BP Migas, has named the seller and the government has agreed the price.
Purnomo said that the project had to benefit the state, directly and indirectly.
He said that the government had not yet decided whether the production of the project would all be exported, all for domestic need such as for fertilizer factories, power generators, petrochemicals, or for a combination of both.
Purnomo Yusgiantoro said that the government was also planning to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in West Java and East Java whose gas was expected to come from the Dongg-Senoro projects besides from Tangguh and Bontang or Masela.
Up Stream director of BP Migas Priyono said that his office had not yet discussed the price of the Donggi-Senor gas price.
"We will start discussion when the seller has been named. The next step is that the gas price should get approval from the energy and mineral resources minister. So, the formulation of the (present) price is still preliminary," he said.
Previously, state-owned oil and gas Pertamina's subsidiaries, PT Pertamina EP in its capacity of the Matindok field operator and JOB Pertamina-Medco e&P, operator of the Senoro field, have agreed a gas price with PT Donggi Senor LNG on January 22, 2009.
With a certain formula and an estimated crude price of about US$40 per barrel, the Senoro gas price was set at US$2.8 per MMBTU.
The Donggi-Senoro gas projects consist of five gas fields, namely Dinggi, Minahaki, Matindok, Maleoraja and Senoro, with a total gas reserve of 3.08 trillion cubic feet. ***2***